Haven
by x.Redd.Phoenix.Flamez.x
Summary: Moviebased.Alice,Carlos,&their friends wage a war against Umbrella&Earth is the battleground.The renegades have the aid of 2 more projects while a sinister doctor helps Umbrella.There's no such thing as a haven these days. AC,SE
1. Chapter 1: Survivors

**_Summary: Moviebased. After RE:A. _**

**_The crash took Alice away. Or so the survivors of Raccoon City thought. Three weeks after the crash, they discover that their savior in Raccoon City has been resurrected. Carlos and the others save her and in the process save two other projects, whom Alice and Carlos happen to know._**

**_The fate of the world rests in the hands of Alice and her friends. The war is against Umbrella and the battleground is Earth. There is no such thing as a haven these days._**

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**_Disclaimer: Don't own a thing. No matter how much I want to._**

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**_Okay, I thought of a story called Avalon at first and it was horrible. So, I thought I'd take a new look at it and the plotline and thought of this. The OCs Selene Avalon and Ean Rydier will come in later._****_

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**_Pairings: AxC, PAxI (Take a guess at the second pairing)_**

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CHAPTER ONE:

He helped her to her the middle of the copter closer to the seats. Jill Valentine had gotten up from her seat next to Angela Ashford to leave it for Alice Prospero and slid over one as Alice took the seat. Angie handed her the seat belt and asked if she was alright. Alice nodded. As Lloyd Jefferson Wayne or LJ came from the co-pilot seat, Carlos Olivera hit a button at the back to close the door at the end.

It was just the five of them, not including the pilot, that survived the horrors of Raccoon City. Five different people ended up working as a team for the same cause. At first, when everyone realized that they were stuck in the city, they all wanted a way out. Saving Angela was the deal the girl's father had given them. Everyone took it- Carlos and his men and Alice and the people she had saved. They all met in the cafeteria of Angela's school and at once they were all a team. Of course, things had happened in between but they were alive, they were getting out and they were all unhurt- for the most part. That was all that mattered.

Although they were different, they all shared several things. Carlos was a former employee for Umbrella. He was the leader of one of their special forces. Alice, too, was a former employee for Umbrella. She was there in the beginning when the Virus was initially released and was the head of Umbrella's Security Division. Jill was a former Raccoon City Police officer. She was the first witness against Umbrella and had paid with her career. LJ- he was a street guy and no one knew about his past. Angela- she was the main recipient of the Virus and was the person for whom the Virus was made for. They were the survivors and they were all quiet as the nuclear missile passed them and flew to the very heart of the city- City Hall where the last stand of the city against Umbrella had taken place.

Suddenly, a bright light filled the air and engulfed the city in which the team had lost close friends and relatives. It was the nuclear weapon that Ashford had warned them about earlier that night. He told them it would come at dawn and sure enough, as the sun started to rise and the sky started to change color the missile exploded. It didn't take Carlos long to realize that they weren't going to escape the missile's strong waves that were coming from the missile.

"Hang on to something!" Carlos ordered everyone as he yelled over the roaring explosion.

Everyone found some sort of strap and held on and Carlos took the last seat. The copter rocked back and forth and nearly threw everyone off their seats even though most of them wore a seat belt. They all turned away from the light as the door slowly closed.

There was an instrument rack on the helicopter and sharp metals and such for weapons. One of them wasn't secured and broke free from its place on the wall. It was flying straight towards Angela! No one had seen it for it was moving fast but to Angela and Alice time slowed to a crawl at that moment and Alice threw herself in front of the sharp metal. It didn't matter if she was superhuman- a part of her was still human. The sharp metal buried itself in Alice's stomach with a sickening crack.

Alice gasped as a the wave of pain and fire came and she felt the blood rise in the back of her throat choking out anything she wanted to say. She closed her eyes not to see Angie, Carlos, Jill, and LJ and she felt the blood start pouring from her parted lips.

Carlos had turned to her and at that moment thoughts ran through his head. But like Alice no words came to him and he stared in horror and shock at the dying form of his savior in Raccoon. She had saved him from becoming a soulless cannibal and spared him when he thought there was no cure. The hard rock of the copter took his mind and attention away and he turned back to the explosion.

"We're going down!" he yelled feeling the drop in altitude. The copter plummeted down the waterfall.

Him yelling that was the last thing Alice heard. When she felt the impact of the crash she briefly opened her eyes and let out a dying gasp before she was lost to the ice and abyss.

Carlos was the only one that hadn't pulled on a seat belt and he regretted that. He was the first one to wake up. At impact he was thrown against the wall of the helicopter and found himself near to the door. He groaned as he awoke and pain stung his body. He bit his lip to restrain a cry as he took out a small shard that buried itself in his side. It was some sort of glass and he realized that the whole front of the chopper was obliterated. There was no way that the pilot had survived that.

The former Umbrella agent pushed himself up with a groan and stood at the exit. This was the only way to get out and it was partly sealed. The morning rays shone in from the crack at the top. Carlos guessed the metal to weak and maybe the gears could lower the door. He slammed his fist against the button and found it was futile. Everything was destroyed. He looked back to the unconscious forms of Jill, Angie, and LJ and his eyes rested on Alice's body. He knew he needed to get everybody out of there or they were as good as dead. He kicked the door. The sound of metal rang in his ears and in the chopper but at least the metal dented. The impact must've weakened it somehow. He kicked the door again and again until it finally fell against the water and the rocks.

The morning streamed in and Carlos shielded his eyes for a moment to look at the surroundings. They were in the Arklay Range and were at the base of one of the waterfalls. He turned to his friends and decided to get LJ out first. He found the man rather heavy but was able to carry him out. He waded against the current of the water to get to the shore where he laid him down. Next, he went back and got Angela. He laid her beside LJ and then got Jill out. As he returned to the shore with Jill, he saw LJ stir. He stood to the side of his friend and looked over him.

LJ moaned and opened his eyes. He was met with the sun and the silhouette of a man.

"Jesus?" he asked, "Did I really get to heaven?"

"No," Carlos answered, "You're still stuck on Earth, LJ."

"Carlos?!" the man asked and sat up even though it hurt, "We lived?"

Carlos shook his head, "Not all of us."

"Whattya mean?" the man asked but Carlos was gone and went back to the chopper. One last person was lying there.

He was alone in the illuminated chopper and walked over to Alice's body. The metal spike was still jutting out and her mouth was still bloody. Her face was half-burned from the crash and her neck was at in impossible angle. Carlos couldn't leave her like this. Never.

He knelt beside the body, pulled out the metal spike, and threw it somewhere else in the chopper. He wiped the blood from the sides of her mouth before tilting her head back. He knew it was useless but he checked her pulse anyway praying that there was some sort of life still with her. But no heartbeat was felt against his fingertips instead he felt the ice cold touch of Death. He picked her up and carried her out. Jill and Angie were awake by then. Jill was rubbing her sore neck and Angie checked to see if the antivirus in her lunchbox was safe. He passed them and walked up the rocks to lay her on the flattest rock formation. The others had followed him and wanted to say goodbye.

"We need to take her." Carlos said as he leaned over her.

"No, she'll slow us down, Olivera." Jill replied, "We can't. We need to get as far away from here as fast as we can. Carrying around a body is not going to be in our favor."

"I am not leaving her to the sons of bitches that experimented on her." Carlos told them his tone of voice was a mix between anger and anguish.

"We can't, man." LJ came in, "Look, we couldn't do shit to save her. She saved Angie back there- Isn't that good?"

Carlos didn't answer. Instead he moved aside for the others to say their goodbyes. None of them wanted to close her eyes. Although she was dead her blue eyes reminded them of the savior that had rescued them from their deaths. LJ was first and he just said something to her.

"Thanks for getting our asses out of there." he said aloud before walking off to the side.

Angela walked up and couldn't bring herself to even touch the woman. "I'm sorry, Alice."

"It wasn't your fault." Carlos said hearing her.

The girl nodded and let Jill say goodbye. The cop stared at the woman she admired and respected.

"Wish I could've said thanks." she said and walked off towards LJ and Angie. Carlos was last.

"Thank you for saving my life." he whispered and couldn't say anything else even though thoughts and emotion whirled around in his head. It didn't matter what he said anyways. Alice couldn't hear him. Nothing could bring her back. He walked towards the others and they hiked up though the forest.

**Three Weeks Later**

Thee weeks had come and gone and things had changed in the world. The nuclear blast was known throughout the world and when everyone was searching for an explanation, Carlos and Jill gave them one and handed the video tape in. It had Alice's confession, the closing of Raven's Gate bridge, it had the last images of people, the team would never see again- but most of all it had the truth all in the film the camera and tape had.

They were believed at first, but the Umbrella bastards turned it against Jill and Carlos and accused them for libel and proclaimed the tape was a hoax. That turned Carlos, Jill, and anyone they needed help from and involved into fugitives.

Now, the survivors were forced to run. They couldn't stay in one place. Couldn't contact any family- but for them there was not much family they could contact or could aid them. In this fight against Umbrella, the survivors of Raccoon City were on their own.

"_Carlos? Are you there?" came her voice. It was-_

"_Alice?!" Carlos asked and looked around to find himself in a black abyss void of light._

"_Help me, Carlos! Help me!" she pleaded as her voice continued to ring through his head._

"_But you- you're-"he started knowing Alice was dead._

"_Please, find me. Get me out of here." she begged and soon, Carlos heard what sounded like a waterfall. Sounded like the waterfall where the chopper crashed and where they had left her._

"_Where are you?" he asked and looked around. He started walking forward but it was useless. He was heading nowhere._

_A light came from behind him and he turned to see Alice's faint figure. Her clothes stuck to her body because she was dripping wet, her hair was a bit dark, and her skin was glistening._

"_Save me." she whispered as Carlos ran up to her. She extended her hand to reach him and as he took her hand he felt his own phase through hers._

_What the- Carlos thought and turned to a scared Alice whose image was becoming blurrier by the moment. She turned and looked behind her as if something was there and turned back to him. He was about to take her in his arms and drag her away from whatever caused the scared look on her face but Alice disappeared into a flash of light and a roar filled his ears._

Carlos awoke with a jolt. The roar was coming from the train that passed by the abandoned house they were staying at. LJ had contacted a friend of his who gave him the vacation house. It was close to Detroit and close to the train.

The agent looked around and found that he was asleep against the door post. He was sitting on the ground and the gun was in hand. He fell asleep on watch. His eyes were dark and red from lack of sleep. It was dreams of Alice and nightmares like tonight that made Carlos avoid sleep.

He didn't want to recall the ice blue eyes or the strawberry blonde hair that belonged to his savior. But she lingered in his memory. Sometimes he fall asleep unable to keep his eyes open any longer, and she'd be telling him to save her from the death that had taken her. Other times he'd be staring at the ceiling or at the night sky and wait until the morning rays told him it was time to get up.

Tonight, he couldn't stop sleeping after four days of staying up and an hour or two of sleep. Suddenly, he heard Angie scream. Carlos holstered the gun and got to his feet. He ran in and flung the door open. Jill was behind him.

"Where's LJ?" he asked.

"Where do you think?" Jill answered, "He's still asleep."

The two ran by Angie's side. Jill comforted the girl and wrapped her arms around her. This was the only night that Jill let Angie sleep alone and that was because Angie wanted to see if she could manage on her own.

"Ssh, Angie. We're here." she assured the girl and looked to Carlos who looked out the window to see if anyone was heading their way but no one. He turned back to the girl and Jill.

"She's alive!" Angie blurted out to them.

"Who, sweetie?" Jill asked.

"Alice! Alice is alive!" the girl said but Carlos and Jill exchanged worried glances.

"I'm sorry, Angie, but Alice is dead." Jill said.

"No!" Angie and turned to Carlos. She saw the disbelief in his eyes and understood.

"Angie, I felt no pulse and she lost too much blood. She's-"he said and couldn't bring himself to say it. Even though in his dreams she was alive and calling to him- in his life she was lying on a rock near a waterfall and her skin was as cold as ice.

"She's alive! I'm telling you the truth! Those guys brought her back!!!" she said but the two said nothing, "I'll show you!!" she shouted.

The girl, frustrated with the two adults, broke the embrace and ran to the other room where the laptop- that Jill had taken- was. She accessed files and started to download things. Thanks to the internet connection she was able to go even faster. She knew what to do. It was all in her dreams. It was told to her.

Carlos and Jill walked up behind her and watched as the little girl's fingers darted across the keyboard. She was very meticulous at what she punched in and what code she gave. She sometimes closed her eyes for a moment to recall a number before continuing. Before she knew it she was in the mainframe of the Umbrella network.

"How'd-"Jill asked seeing codes stream on the screen and onto the computer. The flash drive at the side was blinking with blue light and was taking it all in.

"I've rerouted it so the information would be converted to something in a notepad and then saved. With the drive you have we can have the whole mainframe down on text." Angie explained and then opened something in a different window.

_Password_? The computer asked. Angela typed in a nine digit code and then put in Recovery of Project Alice.

A video came on and lit the screen. The camera was shaking but it followed an Umbrella scientist- a brown haired man- making his way to where he had placed Alice's body. It was covered with a white sheet and the man withdrew the sheet at Alice's face. Her blank ice blue stare was revealed, as was her partly burned face. He ran his fingers through the strawberry blonde hair and her burned skin.

Jill's eye line remained on the screen but with her peripheral vision she saw the anger flare in Carlos's eyes. In fact, the agent was furious at the Umbrella scientist who dared to touch her. But anger wasn't the only emotion running through him at the moment.

"Where are the rest of the bodies?" the man asked and the camera had picked it up.

"There aren't any other bodies, Dr. Isaacs." came the reply from an agent in a black helmet.

"The body? You carried it out of the chopper?" Isaacs asked.

"No, sir. The body was out here." the man answered.

"So, there are survivors. I'm sure we'll get the answers from her." Isaacs said, once more running his fingers through Alice's hair. He then took a syringe filled with a yellow liquid. He brushed the hair away from her neck and inserted the needle.

"That substance revitalizes the T-Virus. The T-Virus reanimates dead cells and since Alice was able to make her own strain she uses it to her advantage." Angela explained as she closed the window and continued to let data stream in. She turned to Carlos and Jill. "Alice is alive and- look at this."

She pulled out what looked like a transport window and then data tables.

"She's been experimented on and they gave her a new strand of the Virus. She's more powerful and she's scheduled to wake up tomorrow."

"Where is she?" Carlos asked.

"The Detroit facility." Angie answered after finding it.

The three looked at each other. They were just outside the Detroit city limits.

"We need to get her out of there." Angie said and Carlos nodded.

"Wait a minute, Angie. Can I-"he started but the girl moved off the computer seat. He stood instead and pulled out the badge of level six authorization the highest authoritative level.

"Olivera?" Jill asked, "What are you-"

"I've got a plan." he answered.

"I'll get LJ up." she said and walked into the room on the other side of the house.

"I'm sorry for not believing you, Angie." Carlos said to the girl.

"It's alright." the girl answered. "Carlos, you look tired. Why don't you go to sleep?" the girl recommended seeing that the clock read 12 AM.

"I-"he started when Jill screamed and then came out.

"What the hell?" Carlos asked her.

"I can't wake him up." Jill said.

"God, you can get murdered and the guy wouldn't hear." Carlos muttered and restrained a yawn.

"We'll get her out of there, right?" Angie asked.

"We'll save her." Carlos assured.

"C'mon, Angie. Let's go to sleep. Get some sleep, too, Carlos. I doubt that we'll need a watch tonight." Jill said and led the girl to her room before going to hers next door.

Carlos nodded in reply and left the laptop on. He unbuckled the holster belt and placed it on the table along with the titanium knives and extra guns he had on him. He removed the bulletproof vest and lay down on the couch. It took him a while to sleep as the revelation of Alice being alive started to sink in. He closed his eyes and thought of the plan to save her. In a few moments, Carlos fell asleep.

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**_Review please!!!!_**

**_-Redd_**


	2. Chapter 2: Ean and the Amber Facility

_**Thank you to reviewers. Now, here's the second chapter. Introduction of one of my OCs Ean Rydier.**_

_**Those of you that have read my first story, Avalon (which was deleted), will know that Ean Rydier was the same name.**_

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CHAPTER TWO:

She could feel the cold water against her skin. She had no thoughts at the moment- couldn't even describe the way she was feeling.

"_Alice._" came a voice of a little girl. "_Alice, wake up._"

Alice Prospero obeyed the voice and opened her eyes. The water at once stung and she tried to gasp but instead took a deep breath of air from the breathing device that was attached to her nose and mouth. She looked around and found herself in some tank of water. To her right, there was a man watching her- He was tall and had brown hair, his eyes somewhat glinted with a malevolent cause as he stared at her. strawberry blonder hair floated in the water in front of her and sometimes obscured her vision but only for a moment.

"Can you hear me?" he asked, "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

He talked to her as if she was a child and in a way she was. He said something Alice couldn't hear before he walked towards some people monitoring something on the side and gave them a nod. They drained the tank and then opened it. It was a slow process but soon the tank was opened. Alice lay on the glass coughing, although she barely could be heard.

The man that had watched her, Dr. Sam Isaacs, walked up to her and wrapped a towel around her. She hadn't noticed that he stared at her for a long time before someone spoke.

"Her recovery's remarkable." one woman at the monitors marveled. Alice didn't understand that part. "And her powers both physical and mental are growing at a geometric rate." Isaacs listened and focused on Alice.

She was shaking and jolted at Isaacs touch. He brushed the hair that stuck to her face before Alice took his hand.

"Wh-wh-whe-"Alice started but couldn't finish it. She couldn't say the words to ask where she was.

"Where are you?" Isaacs finished for her as he helped her up. "You're safe. C'mon on."

He guided her to the wall besides the tank and leaned her against it since she was shaky in standing up. "That's it. There we are." he said to her. He saw her staring at one of the lab assistants who was jotting down a report. There was some sort of wonder in Alice's eyes at what he was using to write.

"Do you know what that is?" Isaacs asked her as he took the clipboard and pen from the assistant. "It's a pen. See?"

"Pe- Pe- nuh-" she said trying to form the word pen.

"Pen." Isaacs repeated and checked off a box at the end of the paper. He turned the paper towards her and handed her the pen. "You try."

She held it as she would a knife and scribbled all over the paper staining and obscuring the report with the blank ink. Isaacs nodded and smiled, amused. It was perfect. Alice was thinking like a toddler. She couldn't even form words. He handed the clipboard back to the assistant and saw the frustration on his face when he glanced at his report. He needed to fill in a new one.

Isaacs turned back to Alice and cupped her face in his hands. He made her focus on him since her eyes gazed in wonder at the lab.

"Now, do you remember anything?" he asked her gently. His reply was a blank stare. "Do you remember your name?"

"My-"she started, "My na-muh?"

Isaacs's smile broadened. It was absolutely perfect. Alice had no memories. Her resurrection obliterated her mind completely. He could start from scratch and mold her to be the perfect bio-weapon- the perfect being. He could mold her to be the future. He walked towards the doctors at the computers telling them what to do.

"I want her under twenty-four hour observation." Isaacs said. "I want a complete set of bloodwork."

"My name." Alice gasped as she leaned her head against the wall. She was starting to feel dizzy and a nauseating feeling swept over her. She felt sick.

"Chemical and electrolyte analysis by the end of the day." he continued.

"My. Name." Alice gasped and closed her eyes. Flashes of events came to her and struck like a gun shot. Her head ran with the noise of the events as it flashed. She had just crashed into a church. Next, she was walking down a building. Soon, she was in the middle of a fire with a little girl.

_Who is the little girl?_ she asked but her memories became clearer. _Angela Ashford. Angie_.

She held her hand at her temple. Meanwhile one of the monitors stared at his screen and saw that her mental memories were rising.

"My name." Alice groaned as another rising memo popped up on the screen.

Next she was walking with three people. One wore a tube top. Another wore some suit and another was decked out for battle in a green bullet proof vest, army green camouflage pants and a R.C.P.D badge on the right of a short sleeve. Before she knew it she jumped off a bridge.

"My name." she repeated her voice becoming sure.

"Sir." said the monitor as Isaacs continued with the list of things he wanted done within the next twenty-four hours.

"Advanced reflex testing is also a priority." he said and the monitor's eyes widened as another red memo popped up.

"My name." Alice gasped.

"Have her electrical impulses monitored and-"

"Sir!"

Alice was walking down a building and shot a licker that hugged her motorcycle. She had finished defeating agents and the memories filled up. Whatever Alice didn't see clearly was locked in her memories. She saw the woman in the blue tube top give a smile. _Jill Valentine_. A black man in a brown jacket had stopped her from shooting a dark-haired Umbrella agent. _LJ._ She was in a car and she had just told the Umbrella agent, whom she had saved with the antivirus, that she wasn't at all contagious. She saw him flash a smile. _Carlos Olivera._

"Sir!"

She saw Carlos again and then saw Jill and Angie. LJ was gone from the scene when she was friend by the creature she had just defeated and refused to kill. _Matt. Nemesis_.

"Sir!"

Alice looked forward, her eyes no longer empty and her mind no longer like a toddler's. She recalled where she had seen the man that had helped her. He was there when they ordered the T-Virus to be injected into her. She wasn't infected just yet. Isaacs ordered it. She had looked at him and saw Cain and Isaacs leaning over the dead body of a dead virus carrier.

"What is it?!" Isaacs snapped furiated that he had been stopped.

"My name-" Alice said finally. Her voice a little deeper than it was a while ago. The girlish voice had disappeared and was replaced with a cold tone she aimed directly at Isaacs. Everyone had heard the change in her voice and all stared at her with fear in their eyes. Isaacs turned to her as well. "Is Alice." she continued with a smirk aimed at the man who had asked her earlier. "And I remember everything." she said clutching the towel against her firmly.

Before anyone could say a word or move. Alice grabbed the pen the lab assistant was using. The same pen Isaacs was introducing her to use earlier- and aimed it right at the man's eye. She stopped it though a centimeter before it hit him. Everyone took a breath as the man froze. A smile appeared on Alice's face as she slammed her elbow into his face. Her forearm then hit the neck of the man next to him with a sickening crack. Everyone was scared of her now.

A guard ran up to her and Alice punched him. With one blow he was out cold. Isaacs thought he could do something and walked up to her but Alice grabbed him by the shoulder and threw him into the tank's glass which shattered at impact. A guard at the end of the hall took aim with his taser gun and fired at her shoulder. She shot back as the electric hit her but it felt as if she got stung by a needle. Nothing more. She stood there and stared at him. The man was too scared to move. Alice smirked took the electric shots and threw it back at him.

She left him writhing on the floor and passed him to go into the halls. As she entered the white halls, she looked around frustrated.

"Not again." she muttered remembering the white hospital halls in Raccoon City. She followed the directions on the black boards and started to navigate her way to the main lobby.

She spent five minutes navigating her way before she felt the presence of an infectant. She whirled around to face a young man no older than twenty. He was only in dark jeans and a taser gun was in his hand. He didn't shoot and with the hesitation Alice took her chance. She ignored the look of recognition in the youth's eyes and she used whatever she could in self-defense, calling on some power she found alien to her; but it was effective. The youth cried out and fell to his knees. His hands were on his temples as the ringing drove him insane. He could feel the blood running through

"Alice!" he yelled over it when he found his voice. He was surprised he even had time to do so.

She stood there and stopped her telepathic onslaught. The young man collapsed as Alice approached him.

"How do you know my name?" she asked.

"What?" he gasped as she pulled him up by the collar and put him to his feet. The man took the taser gun and put it in the holster on his belt. "What're you talking about? Don't you remember me?"

Alice's memories of Raccoon City had come back to her but not all her memories. Not yet anyways. Maybe in her life before The Hive she knew him. When she said nothing the man took it that she didn't remember him.

"It's me, Ean Rydier. You trained me in the Amber facility before The Hive assignment you took." he said and Alice's theory was right.

At his name, the memory of him came back.

"Ean." she realized and looked at him. The last time she had seen him he looked exactly the same there was just one thing. "You weren't infected the last time I met you were you?"

"What're you talking about?" he asked. "Infected like those things that nearly killed Selene and me in the Hive."

Now it was Alice's turn to ask about what he was talking about. Ean sighed and just as he started to explain, Alice asked him.

"Selene? I remember her. Where is she?" Alice asked.

Selene was a teenage girl that she had mentored in the Amber facility, a part of the corporation devoted to training potential agents either for the local police or for future jobs as Umbrella agents. They had agents mentor the potentials and train others. Alice was assigned to mentor Selene and train agents in the combat training involving one branch of martial arts.

"She's in the Arklay facility. I need to get her out of there." Ean answered interrupting Alice's thoughtline. She nodded and grabbed his arm. "Alright, let's go. We'll talk once we're out of here."

She guided him to the lobby where she stopped for a moment.

"What's wrong?" Ean asked.

Alice ignored him and stared at the camera. A guard was watching them. Whatever she did to Ean, she started to do to the guard. She didn't stop until she felt the life leave him and heard his heart cease to beat. Only when that was done, was when she pulled Ean out of there. As soon as they walked out they were met by red lasers that were pointed at them.

This triggered a memory in Alice's mind. She stared at each of the agents that had a laser on her. They all wore those opaque looking helmets and she couldn't see their faces. She recalled in Raccoon City when an agent pointed a laser-assault rifle at her. But none of the men standing in front of her were Carlos Olivera. She saw Ean tense and reach for the taser but he saw that he'd only manage in getting both of them killed.

Just then, a black SUV pulled up. Alice and Ean's hopes of escaping were crushed. But when a woman in a black leather outfit walked out relief washed over Alice. But she kept her face emotionless and Ean's distressed look only sealed the deal.

Jill with the tight leather outfit walked up to her.

"Thank you, gentlemen." she said her voice as cold as an Umbrella agent's could be. "But we'll take it from here."

With a single look, Alice's eyes darted to Ean's before it met hers. She meant that they were taking Ean as well. Behind Jill, LJ stood at a rest stance and watched them his eyes were on the stranger. The man was wearing what the agents wore and it looked like what Carlos wore in Raccoon. Black shirt, vest, black-colored camouflage pants and an Umbrella logo printed on the vest.

In the car, Alice could sense Angie's Virus. Everyone was here-

_But where's_- she thought when she heard a car door slam and someone walked from the other side of the car.

"On whose authority?" the lead agent asked as Jill was about to take Alice by the arm.

"Classified." came the reply from Carlos who walked up in a black suit. He presented some ID to the lead agent who eyed it.

Alice stared at him as realization glittered in Ean's eyes. He knew who the woman and the man were at the moment he heard the voice of the agent. Especially the agent- the youth's memory traveled back to the Amber facility where the man had mentored him and pushed him to do his best. He hid his emotion well, however, and noticed Carlos and Alice's eyes meet. He saw a slight smile twitch on Alice's lips before the lead agent handed Carlos back the ID. He hid the look of suprise and stared at the ground.

"Sorry, sir." the lead agent said and nodded to the agents to deactivate their lasers. Jill took Alice's arm and nodded for Ean to go in front of them.

He got into the SUV first and as Alice passed Carlos he draped a blanket around her shoulders. Ean slipped around the middle seat and sat in the back where he saw a girl hiding behind the seat. He eyed her, wanting to question her but he restrained himself.

"Hello." she greeted her voice quiet as she hid behind the seat.

"Hi." Ean whispered as Jill got in and closed the door.

Carlos and LJ got into their respective seats. LJ in the driver's seat and Carlos was sitting shotgun. They said nothing as they drove to the checkpoint and Carlos once again presented his forged ID. His window and Alice's window was opened, as well.

Angie still ducked behind the seat staying in her hiding place and Ean was visible. The guard was about to let them pass when he heard a call. He gave Carlos his ID before answering the call. Usually when this happened, the guard wouldn't let the people pass but when he picked up he heard Isaacs's command.

"Let them go." he ordered. The guard nodded and lifted the bar. But he wasn't the only one that heard the order. Ean had heard him too and thought it near impossible for him to do that. He shrugged it off as the windows closed and Carlos turned to Alice.

"Good to have you back." he said even though he wanted to say so much more than that. He looked at Jill who in turn looked at Alice.

"What did they do to you?" she asked.

Alice ignored the question for she didn't know herself. She saw Carlos's gaze on somebody behind her and Alice turned to see Angie.

"Are you alright?" the little girl asked.

She didn't answer that either because at the moment her eyesight turned to blue. She didn't know the truth to answer them. Was she alright? She glanced at Carlos who looked at her for one last time before he faced front and the car moved forward.

Once they were a safe distance away from the facility. LJ pulled up at an empty gas station. It had been abandoned and was closed up. Once there, LJ parked and everyone filed out.

Alice looked turned to her friends. The people she had saved in Raccoon City. She saved them and they saved her.

"We missed you, Alice." Angie said and wrapped her arms around Alice. Alice returned the embrace and broke it a moment later to turn to Jill.

"Thanks, guys." she said before Jill suddenly hugged her.

"It's the least we could do." Jill answered her, "You saved us. Got us out of there. You saved Angie."

She broke the hug for Alice to turn to LJ who shook her hand.

"Thanks for saving our asses in Raccoon." he said, "Glad to have you back."

She nodded and turned to the last survivor._ Hi, Carlos_. she thought she should say but she wanted to say something more to him.

She recalled when she was dying on the helicopter and the thoughts that ran through her head. Why was she thinking about him mostly? She thought her life would flash before her eyes like cliche dictated, but mostly it was just him and that charming smile.

At that moment she felt her heart skip a beat at the thought and flushed when she realized that she was standing there in nothing but a blanket and a towel covering her. The two stood there neither moving and created an awkward moment. Carlos wished he could tell Alice-

"It's good to have you back." he said again which broke the awkward moment. He couldn't think of anything to say with the whole group's eyes on them.

Just then he turned to the young man and smiled. He recognized the young man immediately and wondered why he hadn't seen him sooner. Maybe his attention had been so fixed on Alice that he hadn't registered the identity of the youth but now he knew. "Ean? Ean Rydier?" he asked. When Ean Rydier's name was said there was usually an accompanying name, but she was missing.

"Agent Carlos Olivera. I was wondering when you'd recognize me." Ean replied.

"Yeah, I nearly missed you without Selene by your side. Where is she? You two are usually joined at the hip." Carlos said with a teasing smile. He had mentored Ean in the Amber facility and when he wasn't training with the youth, the young man was usually with Selene Avalon. He had never seen the boy without her.

"Yeah. Gotta get used to you with a woman next to you." Ean fired back with the same smile. It was a lame shot, but Carlos got it and shook his head with a chuckle.

"Ooh, he got you, man." LJ said with a laugh.

"Yeah, he did." Carlos smiled. "Ean, seriously, where is Selene?"

The smile faded from the youth's face. "Alice, tell him."

"Tell what? And who the hell are you?" Jill asked confused.

"I-"Ean started and looked at Carlos, "Do we have time or-"

"Go ahead, explain." Carlos told him.

"Alright." Ean said, "Yeah, introduction. I'm Ean Rydier. Former agent for Umbrella-"

"Whoa! Wait a minute. You're a former what?! You're...Twenty?!" Jill asked, "Umbrella doesn't take on agents that young. Right?" Her question was aimed at Carlos and Alice but Ean answered.

"Umbrella wants to shape the future into their own image and they realized they needed to model the future- the next generation. They took teens with a promising future- orphans maybe some from well off families and offered them a one in a lifetime chance."

"What kinda kids are you to take an offer where you just blast the fuck out of people?" LJ asked.

"It wasn't like that, at first." Ean said as he leaned against the side of the car. "They offered us a way out of our lives. They gave us an escape from who we were. Most of us hated where our life was headed they took us out of it. We all took the offer. Didn't read the fine print."

"What happened to you?" Angie asked.

"They were taken to the Amber facility and were trained to become agents." Alice said, "Like us." When she said that, her eyes were on Carlos who nodded in agreement.

"And how the hell'd you know?" LJ asked them.

"Because-"Carlos started, "Alice and I were some of the few agents that trained them."

Jill's eyes widened as she stared at them. "You guys trained kids not even out of college to become agents of some cold-hearted bastards?"

"Um, there is a little girl here, Valentine." Ean reminded them wondering if they ignored Angie's presence.

"Look, Umbrella told us these kids were in a program with the cops and it's true that there is such a program. The agents- we- didn't check the age. So, we thought we were just improving their skills as future cops." Carlos said and knew it was a pretty tenuous excuse. He should've seen through it. But the teens he was training- They seemed like they were adults with the way they acted. They must've so determined to escape their lives that they were willing to do anything.

Jill at the sound of her name spoken by the stranger slash potential Umbrella agent turned to him and her hand itched at her gun. Alice saw this.

"Jill-"she started.

"Hang on." she said and turned to Ean, "How do you know my name?"

"I heard it while I was held in the Detroit facility-"Ean started to explain when Carlos cut in.

"And how did you end up there?" he asked. The man sighed.

"Jesus Christ, do I have to explain everything?" Ean said frustrated. "Alice, just tell them how we ended up in The Hive. I'll tell you the rest-"

Everyone turned to Alice who stared blankly at Ean.

"Well?" Ean asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Alice told him.

"Okay, first, you don't remember name. Now you don't remember why you called Selene and me?" Ean asked.

"Ean, explain." Carlos said as Alice turned away and tried to remember.

"Okay, Selene and I completed training. We were on our way to becoming agents." he said, "Then one night, Alice calls us for help and to come at eight to meet her at The Hive entrance. She needed people to escort some sort of contact out of there.

"Selene and I-" Ean noticed the I-knew-she-was-with-you kind of look coming from Carlos and ignored it, "We headed to The Hive and met another elite team on the way. They went with Alice and Spence into The Hive and we were left to play sentry.

"Next thing we know, we're getting attacked by this creature. All muscle, no skin-"

"With a visible brain and no eyes?" Jill asked.

"Yeah, how'd you-"

"Came across three of 'em in Raccoon."

"Then you know that they're a real pain in the ass. One escaped and went after us. We killed it and then we tried to get to the entrance to see if anyone else got out but it was locked. Next thing I know, I'm being dragged away into a hall and this sonofabitch is shouting orders to put me into some sort of project. The last thing I remember at The Hive is them telling to put Selene in the Arklay facility.

"I woke up in a facility and doctors were talking about Olivera and Valentine and how they're working together in some hoax video. That's the only reason I know you, Valentine."

Everyone stared at him. Ean searched for Alice's eyes and saw that she remembered. They all turned to face her as if to confirm part of the story she was involved with. Alice nodded to them.

"You gonna get the girl outta there, huh?" LJ asked him.

"Yeah," Ean answered. "I need help. I don't know anything about the facility."

"Ooh, I do." Angie added, "I've been there."

"You can't help though. It's up to the adults, Angela." he said.

"Now, how'd you know my name?"

"Magic." Ean said smiling. "Everyone knows who you are, Angela Ashford."

"It's Angie." the little girl said as Ean turned to LJ.

"Now, you're the only one I don't know." he said.

"Lloyd Jefferson Wayne, kid. Call me LJ." he said and shook his head.

"Look, are you gonna help me or not?" he asked the entire group.

Everyone exchanged glances and said nothing. No protest and no agreement. It was quiet.

"Looks like we're headed back to the Arklay Range." Carlos said.

"Yeah, but we're stopping by the store. We need new clothes." Jill said as they started to get into the car. Jill got into the driver's seat and LJ took shotgun. Angie and Ean were sitting in the back and Carlos realized that Alice wasn't with them.

"Over there." Ean pointed out and pointed to her figure leaning against the empty gas pumps.

Alice had the dark blanket draped over her and clung to it. Carlos walked over to her.

She heard him and turned as he approached. The light above flickered and illuminated his dark and handsome features for a moment.

"Alice, are you alright?" he asked her.

"I don't know." she answered, "I couldn't remember him or that I called on him and the girl for help. I couldn't remember. Is there something wrong with me?"

"No." he said suddenly, "No, nothing is wrong with you. It's just what _they_ did to you."

She was quiet. She walked up to him and only when she was a scant inches away did she see the fading dark rings and the light red eyes that were bloodshot from probably lack of sleep. She didn't say anything.

"C'mon, let's get you some clothes and get me outta this suit." he smiled.

A laughing smile appeared on Alice's face and she pulled at the black tie.

"Not a bad look on you." she said and walked ahead. Carlos grinned and walked after her.

She was no more than halfway to the car when she stopped.

"Alice?" he asked and came up to her. He saw the sick and confused expression on her face. "Alice?"

She didn't answer. She suddenly fell to her knees and started to convulse.

"Alice!" the cry came from everyone.

Ean ran from the car as Carlos got on his knees next to Alice and wrapped his arms around her to restrain her. Her next convulsion knocked both of them to the ground.

"Ean, get back." Carlos ordered not wanting the next convulsion to injure the youth. Carlos could feel Alice's elbow dig into his chest and start to bruise. She had a grip on his forearm and as she tried to control the convulsions her grip tightened blocking blood flow.

Everyone watched as they couldn't do anything. But soon, Alice stopped. Carlos pulled both himself and her up. He saw the blood drip from her lip and realized she had bit down to keep from screaming. Gently, he wiped away the blood with his thumb.

"You alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine." she whispered weakly. It hurt to speak and her hand flew to her neck as she cleared her throat.

"Holy shit that gave me a heart attack." Ean muttered. "You two gonna be fine?"

"Yeah, thanks, Ean." Carlos answered as the young man went ahead.

"C'mon, let's get out of here." Carlos said and saw that Alice was shaky. As he approached her, she collapsed from unconsciousness.

0o0o0o0o0oO0o0o0o0o0o0

Alice woke with a headache and ringing in her ears. Her vision was dark and she couldn't see yet but she felt a warm body against her and she felt completely safe. When her vision cleared she saw a dark shirt and heard his heartbeat against her ear. She gently pushed herself up and found she was lying _on_ Carlos and using his muscular chest as her pillow. He was only in his shirt and the suit jacket had covered their upper bodies and now was resting on Alice's shoulders. He had gotten rid of the tie and unbuttoned some of the first buttons of the shirt. Carlos was lying down and was peacefully asleep. His steady breathing made his chest rise and fall, and Alice had felt very comfortable and very safe. In fact, everyone but the driver was asleep. LJ was snoring in the shotgun seat and as Alice looked up. She saw that the middle seat was slightly leaned back and that Angie was asleep leaning on Jill's shoulder.

She looked at Ean who saw her in the driver's mirror. "You gave us a scare back there. First, you go into these weird convulsion and next you're totally out cold. Scared the hell out of Carlos. Never saw him like that."

Alice smiled and looked back at Carlos.

"It was all him, ya know." Ean said.

"What do you mean?" Alice asked him, "What was all him?"

"Why you're on top of him and all." Ean explained with a wry smile. "He likes you. A lot."

Alice smiled and brushed the hair of her sleeping companion with her fingers. Ean watched this and said nothing. He didn't even tell Alice that she was actually the one that found herself on the position she was in when she woke up. The two had unconsciously moved while they slept. Alice was originally at Carlos's side and he was nearly falling off but instead, Alice moved and- Well, in the end, Carlos was lying on the seat and Alice lay on top of him.

"They're even close in their sleep." Jill had told them when she turned to see them like this.

"I know." Alice said taking Ean from the little flashback.

"Hmm?" Ean asked as his thoughtline ended. He hadn't heard- kind of. "You know?"

"I guess I always knew." Alice said not knowing why she was being so honest and emotional at the moment, and with his training with Alice, Ean knew that this was a rare moment.

"And you?" he asked her, taking advantage of the honest and truthful moment.

"What? What about me?"

"Do you like him?" Ean asked and ignored how childish it all sounded. "Don't worry I can keep a secret."

"I know you can."

"So, are you going to tell me?"

There was no answer. "Alice?"

He looked in the mirror and saw that Alice barely adjusted her position over Carlos. She lay there but instead her head rested closer towards his neck. The jacket once again covered their chests. She was still awake because there was no way she could fall asleep in five seconds.

"Alice?" Ean said.

"Don't tell him I woke up." was all Alice said before falling asleep moments later.

"Alright." Ean smiled and continued to drive. He saw the sign and saw that the Arklay Range was no more than fifty miles away. It would take 45 minutes- about- just to get there if the road ahead was like the road now.

As he drove faster on the empty highway the thought of the girl that he always accompanied in the Amber facility came to him. She had dark hair, blue eyes, and a dark past. A past that he knew about and helped her deal with. She never came to terms with it and it was the reason, he guessed, why Umbrella wanted her. Once her emotions surged she was violent and deadly. _Kinda like Alice._ Ean thought but the only thing that differed between Alice and Selene Avalon was that Alice had experience in life and Selene was just starting to begin her life away from the Amber facility- which had acted as a home to those that were trained there.

A flashback came to mind.A scream rang through his ears. Selene was screaming for him and screaming at the men to let her go. He was yelling and snapped a man's neck in the struggle to get back to her, but he was returned with a syringe driven into his own neck. He was out cold.

He saw another indicator sign signaling it was 40 miles away now.

"Selene, I'm coming." he promised.

* * *

_**Tell me what you think about it. Oh, and introduction of Selene Avalon in the next chapter.**_

-Redd


	3. Chapter 3: Selene and the Incident

_**Disclaimer: Don't own anything!!!**_

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_**I'd like to thank Flashes09 and RhioTre for their reviews on Chapter 2. So, I hope people like this. I hope I could write better than this but this is what I can do. **_

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CHAPTER THREE:

_It galloped toward them like a horse. It's body was pink and pale. Muscles composed the hideous creature and its brain was visible. It didn't have any eyes but somehow it had seem them and heard them._

_"Oh my god! What is that thing?!" Selene asked as she ran into a bedroom and the man behind her slammed it shut. The doors were reinforced but even that would fall to the mighty creature._

_"I don't know." Ean answered and looked around the room. The windows were locked and the room was at least two stories above a brick hard cement. There was nothing to cushion the fall._

_He looked over at a dresser and saw something in an open drawer. Selene had seen it, too._

_"Figures." she whispered with a smile as she slammed her fist down on the glass and took the semi-automatic. Ean had an empty .45 and the ammo clips were on a belt on the drawer underneath it._

_A heavy slam pounded down upon the door. Selene slammed the ammo clip into the magazine and pointed it at the doorway. Any moment now she knew the creature would break through- and she was right. A few slams later the reinforced door gave way and fell with a crash on the wooden floor. It roared and its tounge which was at least a yard flicked out. If it had eyes- they would see the hunger in the, but they saw it in its expression._

_Selene fired once and kept firing as Ean shot over and over aiming for a few vital shots that would damage any creature. They made their way to the door as they pushed the creature further into the room. Once they were in the hallway, they ran. And the creature followed them._

_Selene never knew what actual terror felt like. She didn't want to die. Especially not with her completion of the Amber facility. She had a life now- she couldn't die! Her and Ean- they were through training hell and back in that facility and now they were graduates and out in the world. Life couldn't end now. As she was running the creature was closing in, Selene realized that she couldn't let her fear win or it would be the death of her. The creature landed in front of them and the two stopped._

_'Don't let your fear win. It'll kill you. Well, so can guts- but listen to me. Don't be scared. You'll be surprised to see what you're really scared of.' That was what Alice once told Selene in the Amber facility._

_Death. She was truly scared of death._

_"Everyone wants to go to Heaven but nobody wants to die." she muttered hearing it somewhere before in her life._

_"What was that?" Ean asked her as he held the gun up. The creature stood there, it's tongue like a poised snake ready to strike._

_Against her fear-paralyzed body, Selene raised her semiautomatic and aimed at the head. She pulled the trigger and watched as the bullet slowly penetrated the air and then finally skull of the creature. It collapsed dead on the ground after a final set of shots from Ean brought it still._

_"You okay?" he asked as he moved closer to the creature to check if it was truly dead. The brain matter everywhere was satisfying enough._

_"I'm fine." Selene lied holstering the weapons as Ean returned to her side._

_"C'mon, let's get out of here. Alice and the others may have gotten out while we were locked in the room." Ean said just making a reason to get Selene and him away from the manor. The girl nodded and followed him into the white halls which led to the exit._

_They heard the distant footfall of nearly a dozen men and their hearts leapt when they thought that Alice and the others had returned. But the fact was that while Ean and Selene were in the room, Alice and Matt had escaped The Hive and were captured by the very people walking back into the Manor after having heard the commotion of gunfire. From the Hive, there wasn't only one licker that had escaped. All the cages had been shot and one of the weaker ones had been unleashed on the teens. Unfortunately, the two of them didn't know that._

_As soon as the door opened and men in haz-mat suits appeared, Ean and Selene's hope went out like a candle in a storm. Somehow they knew these men weren't benevolent- in fact-_

_One of them grabbed Selene's arm and dragged her into a separate hall away from the manor and Ean. She slammed her fist into the faceplate and with force bent the neck backwards breaking it. She ran towards Ean to aid him as he was warding off a dozen men that were on him. Half of them turned to the girl and grabbed her dragging her back to wherever she had been taken towards._

_"No!!!" Ean yelled in protest, "No!! Let her go!!!!"_

_Selene screamed as the grip tightened on her arms and waist and her feet weren't on the ground. She kicked and screamed. Ean yelled._

_"Let go of me you bastards!" Selene screamed at the top of her lungs. She saw Ean struggle against half-a-dozen men and he was almost away from them. "Ean!! Ean, help me!!"_

_"Selene!!!" he yelled as he broke the man's neck with a spin kick. He ran forward. But one of the men with Selene drew something from his bag and turned to stab Ean in the chest with._

_"NO!!!!" Selene screamed her voice tearing at the soundproof walls and pierced the gear that blocked the men in the suits from hearing much. She watched as her friend collapsed to the ground. His eyes were fluttering- a sign he was losing consciousness._

_She kicked at the men that had her but it did no good even if they did stop. Selene watched as a man emerged from the hallway of the Spencer Manor._

_"Take the girl to the Arklay Range. I want the boy put in Raccoon City." came the order._

_The next thing she knew- a syringe was driven into her neck and she fainted._

0o0o0o0o0o0oO0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

_Ean lay on the ground and recognized the voice. The man that had been with his parents that had said that a new vaccine would keep him from catching anything else. That was years ago._

_In his mind he was screaming, "SELENE!!!" He had promised her that he'd always protect her- keep her out of harm's way to see life not as an orphan on the streets but as a person. He promised something that he couldn't keep. He watched as a man sank a syringe into her throat. "NO!!!" She went limb and was carried out. Ean couldn't move and could only watch. He must've been given a sedative as the man knelt next to him and removed his helmet. _

"Isaacs." Ean muttered with utter hate as he parked at a department store. His flashback ended and he looked back at a car full of sleeping Raccoon City survivors. He himself had been moved to the facility at the start of The Incident. But at the signs of a breakout he had been moved to the Detroit facility and Selene remained in the Arklay Range- who knows what they did to her.

Jill was the first to wake as Ean woke LJ up. Angie was awake moments later. The only two who were asleep were-

"Leave them. Carlos was up for days and Alice- well, we don't know what's happened to her." Jill explained to Ean who was ready shake one of them up.

"Alright, now, I can't go into that store without a shirt." Ean said as Jill and Angie got out of their seats and were stretching from their nap. LJ was up and stretching. "I'll stay out here."

LJ went to back of the car and tossed Ean a brown leather jacket.

"Use that." he suggested, "'Cause I ain't good at pickin' out clothes for anyone 'cept me."

Ean smiled, "Alright, now we've got to ditch all the weapons." he said as they were all prepared to walk into the twenty-four hour store with their weapons.

Jill ditched her guns in the middle seat, Ean left the Taser gun on his seat and LJ removed the vest and left his Uzi on his respective place. Once that was done, they left the car and heard the distant beep- signaling the car was locked- as they entered the store.

"Alright, we'd be headin' over there." LJ said pointing over at the men's section.

Jill just nodded. "Half-an-hour. Registers."

"What?!" Ean and LJ asked looked at her. "Why that long?"

"Shopping takes like what? Ten minutes tops." Ean pointed out.

"Not for me. As a matter of fact, not for any woman." Jill replied before she and Angie walked away leaving LJ and Ean in disbelief.

"So what are we gonna do with the rest of the twenty minutes?" Ean asked LJ.

"Well, there is a TV section." LJ said as they exchanged glances before walking towards the clothes section.

0o0o0o0o0oO0o0o0o0o0o

Carlos stirred and woke up a minute after the car locked itself. He could feel someone on top of him and when he saw red hair he knew it was Alice. He didn't move- didn't want to. He just let thoughts run through his mind. Raccoon City. His team. The crash. His sleepless nights. Nightmares. He thought of all that before he felt Alice stir. She was fully awake in a few moments.

When she glanced up to find him awake, Alice attempted to sit up.

"Sorry, about that." she apologized as she realized that if she got up. She wouldn't be able to sit anywhere unless she planned to sit on weapons. "Um.."

"Don't worry, it's fine." Carlos said still lying on the seat. Alice was still on him and when she threw a query look at him he realized what she meant. "Oh, sorry."

He sat up so that Alice could have a seat.

"It looks like they left us to sleep." Alice said as she saw the department store ahead.

Carlos restrained himself from telling Alice how much she meant to him at the moment. They were right now alone and it had just been after three weeks of torture, guilt, and anguish. In the little time he had known her, Carlos felt something for Alice. Now he never understood love and when he thought with past relationships that he had found it- Love would always prove him wrong. But these feelings were totally different. She began as someone important to him and now-

"After this, we're saving Selene, right?" she asked him.

"Yeah." he guessed as he started out of the tainted window. It was pretty much dawning outside. The clouds were getting lighter and the sky wasn't as dark.

"Thank you." she said quietly. It was almost inaudible.

"Hmm?" he asked her. Not hearing her low voice.

"For getting me out of there. Thank you." she repeated.

"Don't mention it. You would've done the same for any one of us." he said and aimed a smile at her. A smile that she saw.

"Thanks for catching me, too." she said beaming, referring to when she had collapsed earlier. She was somehow still tired and she leaned on him. "You don't mind do you?"

"Not at all." he answered as it became quiet. After a few eternal moments had passed, the silence was overwhelming."Alice?"

"Hmm?"

He didn't say anything in reply. When he didn't, Alice got off his shoulder and looked up at him. She saw that he was deep in thought over something. She saw something in his eyes that prompted the thought, of course.

"What?" she asked him wanting to hear what he had wanted to say.

"Nothing." he said shaking his head. "It's nothing."

She saw his eyes shift and look at a downward direction. He was lying.

"Tell me the truth. What's wrong?" she asked as he looked away. He didn't answer. She didn't hesitate and knew that something was unnerving him and bothering him. She tilted his face towards hers. "Carlos."

Their faces were only a scant inches apart thanks to that. Their breaths mingled for a moment they drew closer. Their bodies were -strangely- against the other. Alice saw that they were close. Very close. Emotions hit hard as realization dawned on her. A sudden urge to kiss him entered her thought and as they were close and emotions were blazing through her- Alice was finding it hard to resist. After The Hive and the whole thing with Spence, she never thought she'd be feeling emotions like this. But they were close for what seemed like lifetimes and the moment for any kiss was fading. Just as Alice forced herself to believe that Carlos wouldn't try anything like that, he kissed her. His hand had cupped her face as he leaned forward and kissed her. His free hand pulled her against him.

Alice didn't respond, didn't resist, and didn't kiss back as Carlos stopped. He drew back and away from her. Her grip on the towel covering her, loosened during the kiss but once again tightened as Carlos withdrew from his postion next to her.

"That's what's wrong." he told her, hoping it would explain something.

Reality sunk in slower than the kiss and she just stared at him.

"I'm sorry, Alice." Carlos said thinking that her silence was some sort of rejection or-

But before he could say anything to further apologize for his actions, Alice kissed him back. Neither of them knew what they were feeling at the moment and only knew that it felt...right. Soon, Alice found herself in Carlos's lap. The towel was secured around her chest by one of her hands and her free hand grasped his shoulder. Carlos stopped kissing her lips and moved to her neck while Alice's hands found the V of his partly unbuttoned shirt. She removed the rest of the things that held his shirt together and once done, let it hang from his shoulders.

She glanced down at his chest with well-formed muscles due to training and assignments with Umbrella. Her hands traced his abs as Carlos's lips met hers. At her touch, Carlos felt an amorous feeling rack his body. He broke a kiss to breathe as his hand reached up to take the hand Alice was using to secure the towel covering her. But he didn't need to do anything, Alice had let go.

0o0o0o0o0oO0o0o0o0o0o

"How much?!" LJ asked the cashier gaping in disbelief. "No, there's got to be somethin' wrong with that."

"No, sir. The jeans, the leather top, everything's right." the woman assured him.

"Aww, man. I've already gone bankrupt." LJ said pulling out his card.

"No, you're not, LJ." Jill smiled as she pulled at the bag of clothes and walked out towards the car. "Ean, unlock the car."

The car didn't beep as they approached. She turned to Ean who was searching for something in his jacket.

"What's wrong?" Angie asked him.

"You won't believe this, but-" he started.

"You better not say you left those keys in the car." Jill and LJ said although some of LJ's words were shortened.

Ean had that guilty look on his face. "I left the keys in the car?"

"You are so lucky my guns aren't with me!" Jill shouted as she threw the bags to Ean and LJ who caught them.

"What're we gonna do now?" Angie asked.

"Well, let's hope Carlos and Alice are awake." Jill said as she slammed her hand on the windows of the backseat.

She couldn't see in. So, she didn't know whether they were up or not.

"Alice! Carlos! Get up!! We're locked out!!!" she yelled.

0o0o0o0o0oO0o0o0o0o0o

They broke apart at the sound of Jill's hands on the window. Alice pulled the towel around her just as it was about to reveal her body.

"We left the keys in there!!!" Ean yelled as he hand came down on the glass. "You two up?!"

The two ignored their friends for a moment and gazed at each other.

"Carlos-"she started although she couldn't resist tracing the muscles of his body and looking down as she said it, "Think it's too fast?"

It was an awkward moment and when their eyes met it got even worse. The two of them realized that if their friends had arrived only a couple of minutes later then-

"Yeah." he answered just to get out of the moment. But they were, after all, in the position where neither of them could get out of. She was in his lap and his shirt was hanging at his sides. They were-

"Alice!! Carlos!! Get up yo'!!!" LJ yelled.

"The key's on the driver's seat!" Ean said.

Alice slipped off and to the driver's seat as Carlos buttoned his shirt. At the sound of the car unlocking, Jill opened the side door.

"Hey, guys. Sorry if we woke you." Jill said and Carlos and Alice exchanged guilty glances. Glances that ,thankfully, reached nobody's eyes.

"Got you this." Jill said pulling out a pair of dark tight jeans and a black leather top complete with a short leather jacket. "Like it?"

"Your taste is good, Jill." Alice said taking the outfit. Carlos got out to let her change. It took only a minute or two before Alice emerged with the tight-fighting and yet comfortable clothes.

It was Jill who changed next. She had changed into a tight amber shirt along with a pair of denim pants. Angie already wore a striped sweater and loose jeans. She helped with shopping for Alice and had chosen the pants Jill wore.

"Nice choice, Angie." Jill said as Ean pulled on black shirt. He tossed Carlos a bag.

"That's for you." he said as Carlos got into the car to come out with a still wearing the black dress shirt and dark loose fitting jeans.

"Thanks, Ean. I'll use the shirt later. Right now-no." he said referring to a dark navy blue shirt Ean had gotten him as he walked to the back and pulled out the army boots that he put on. Everyone was ready and Alice and Carlos put the little ordeal behind them- for now.

"So, how far are we from the facility?" Carlos asked as he pulled out what seemed like the floor of the trunk and revealed an arsenal of weapons.

"Damn." Ean said impressed as Carlos tossed him a holster belt and a pair of .45s. "That's it?"

"For now." Carlos said as he handed Angie a belt and a 9mm. He and Jill had trained Angie to shoot and the girl's aim was coming along.

"Leave the weaponry up to the grown ups." Jill smiled as she got two handguns and a Walther P99.

Carlos took a thin vest with titanium knives, a belt with a Colt .45 and a 50 caliber. He had a holster he strapped on his calf and put a 9mm there. LJ had two gilded Uzis that he had carried with him and never fired since Raccoon City. Meanwhile, Alice picked out a slim semi-automatic and chose a belt with a Walther P99 and a 50 caliber. A 9mm was strapped to her thigh and she was ready for whatever Umbrella could throw at her. There was a small glance exchange between Alice and Carlos before they all got into the car. Alice at shotgun, Carlos at the wheel, Ean and Angie in the middle seat and LJ and Jill in the rear.

"Let's go." Ean said and Carlos nodded as the car pulled out of the spot and shot forward down the empty road towards the Arklay Range and the facility.

"So, what's the game plan? Is anybody gonna get shot? No, am I gonna get shot?" LJ asked and no one answered, "Yo, people! What's the plan?"

"We wing it." Carlos smiled glancing at LJ through the driver's mirror.

"Shit." LJ said leaning back in his seat.

"What?" Ean asked. "Why?"

"I'm gonna get shot." LJ answered as Ean smiled and Angie giggled. Alice and Carlos just smiled as the facility and the checkpoint drew closer. Once again using a fake ID, Carlos was able to get all of them past the checkpoint.

It was only then that Alice realized that if Umbrella was looking for them that Carlos was playing a dangerous game. He was a most wanted along with Jill- He could be easily recognized but so could Jill. _He used the ID to get me out of there._ She thought. Carlos was precariously living right now. Somebody at that facility could've shot and he could've been killed if he was recgonized. _Why? Why risk that?_

_He did it for you. _She didn't know what told her but she knew they were right.

Carlos turned to her and saw she was being bothered by something. "Something wrong?" he asked her realizing she had asked him earlier.

_Yes._ "No." Alice lied and Carlos nodded before they parked somewhat away from the facility.

"Showtime." LJ said as he drew his guns.

"I thought you didn't want to get shot." Ean said as they all got out and checked their weapons. Alice checked Angie's weapons.

Once that was done, LJ pulled Ean. "I don't. That's why you're coming with me."

"Huh?" Ean asked and then realized what LJ was doing, "Oh."

"What?" Carlos asked.

"I'm gonna get shot." Ean smiled.

"Alright, let's go." Jill said cocking the trigger.

0o0o0o0o0oO0o0o0o0o0o

The flashback had played over for a lifetime and she was getting sick of it. It was the same dream and it would always end with that abyss. Now, she didn't repeat the memory. Instead, she remained in that black void and found that she could hear something other than the roars of the mutated creature and Ean yelling. Now, she heard the faint beeps of the computer and felt her eyes flutter open.

She was met with the bright white light but she ignored it and saw the white colored room. She couldn't say anything as she got up wanting to see where she was. As she did...

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!" she screamed as her throat stung with pain. A wave of fire and bullets struck her and she screamed. It was so shrill it drowned the sound of gun fire in the background.

The white door slid open and the shots echoed in the hall and in turn the room only to be muffled as the door closed. A man entered- and it wasn't Ean. No- it wasn't but she had seen him before. She knew him.

"Selene- Oh, god." he muttered as he ripped away the wires that were attached to Selene Avalon. The thin paper that covered her body was splattered with the blood that came as he tore them off her. He was even trying to be a bit gentle with taking it out but the wires wouldn't come off with a simple tug.

His chocolate brown eyes flashed a look of worry as the girl started to sob. He cupped her face and made eye contact with her.

"Selene, I'm sorry for that. But are you alright?" he asked even though she was sobbing. She knew what he meant though and she nodded.

"Alright." he said. "Remember me?"

"Krrrr-loh-sss." she whispered as her dark chocalate hair highlighted with a single gold streak fell around her face. She stared up at the lightly tanned, black haired, and chocolate eyed-

"That's right, Carlos." he smiled.

_Carlos Olivera._ Selene thought. One of her trainers in the Amber facility. He had been one of her favorite teachers and was the mentor to Ean.

Carlos took off the vest he wore and slipped it onto Selene. The gunfire had ceased only to begin moments later.

"Eee-yan." she whispered.

"He's here." Carlos assured her as he slipped his arms under her and lifted her from the table. The door slipped open and he passed into the halls of the facility and towards the gunfire and the shots. Soon, they were too loud and after five shots the gunfire ended.

"Selene?!" came the voice of a woman as she ran forward.

She had just dispatched five guards and looked at the young girl in Carlos's arms. She stared into sapphire blue eyes and saw the hexagon like patterns on the girl's arm. She could already sense the sweet aroma of infectant's, the ones through injection's, scent. The girl's eyes fluttered but she could still hear them.

"Alice, where's Ean?" Carlos asked.

"Holding off the men at the front. With LJ." she replied.

"Aaa-lisssss." Selene moaned.

"Yeah, Selene. We're getting you out of here." Alice assured as she and Carlos moved towards the exit.

Selene couldn't care at the moment but when the ice cold winds of the Arklay Range struck her. She huddled closer to Carlos. She opened her eyes for a moment expecting to see a black dress shirt, but instead it was not only black, but with a blueish tint. Her eyesight was strange and she at once grew worried.

What was wrong her?!

There was a sound of gunshots before everything became quiet.

"Here, take her." came an order from Carlos as he handed Selene to someone and got into the driver's seat. Angie came with Jill after taking out the guards at the very front and LJ came around from the wherever he had been staying- taking out those coming from the side. The whole building was clear.

"Um, we've got a problem." LJ reported as he got into the car. Selene felt warm and saw the inside of a car and she was in someone's arms and leaning against their shoulder. She couldn't bother with lifting her head up to looking up at the person.

"What?" Carlos asked as he hit the peddle and the car shot forward.

"There's a lab underneath." LJ said as they passed the checkpoint and crashed through the bar. The guard yelled and drew the gun to fire at them but it barely scratched the bulletproof SUV.

"That's a problem because-" the man continued.

A roar echoed in the air and it was all too familiar to Alice, Jill, Ean, and Selene.

"Oh, fuck." Jill cursed, "Lickers! They have lickers!!!"

"Okay, what the hell is a-" Carlos started as he turned with the winding road which led both up and down the ridge to the facility. A pink creature jumped in front of them and lashed out with it's tounge. "Nevermind." he said.

The glass shattered as the licker struck the winshield with its tongue. The glass flew and struck Alice and Carlos who swerved a bit so that the passenger side was facing the creature. Alice aimed with her semiautomic at the creature's head and let the bullets tear at the head of the creature. The window broke in the process. To Selene it reminded her of The Hive.

"Nice move." Alice said to Carlos who put the thing on drive and headed out of there. More of the lickers were on their heels.

"LJ, I need a shotgun!" she yelled as her semiautomic was depleted with the killing of one more creature.

In the back seat, LJ fumbled with the gun, but it was Angie that grabbed it and handed it to Jill who in turn passed it to Alice. She leaned out of the window and saw a creature leapt from the sides of the range and aimed for the top of the car. She shot it mid air and it flew back- dead.

Selene couldn't take it anymore. She wanted those things gone before it could kill anyone. She called on something in the back of her mind. Something foreign- but powerful. She knew it would kill them- killing anything with a high concentration and use of _it._ She concentrated hard and aimed it at all the powerful T-Virus infectants not massively infected powerful. The lickers shrieked and one had landed on the road which Carlos of course rammed and blood splattered everywhere except on the SUV windows.

Alice felt it like hit to her skull. The roar filled her ears and an electric bolt struck through her head. She screamed as she drew back and held her hands to her temples.

"Alice!" Carlos yelled as he turned to her, but he couldn't stop the car.

"Stop it!" came the yell Selene heard from the person that was holding her. "Selene, stop it!!"

The girl drew back from her attack. She meant only to aim it at infectants that had the type of Virus in them and apparently Alice was infected with the same strand. Selene opened her eyes and saw her eyesight had returned without the blue hue around her vision. She looked up into the forest green eyes of Ean Rydier.

"Ean." she whispered as her arms tightened around her friend. Ean's embrace around her was warm. That's why she was safe.

"Selene." he said his voice quiet as they pulled into the camping area at the base of the forest. It was a popular site until-

"Why're we-" Jill started and looked at the passenger seat where her question was answered. "Oh, God! Alice!!"

There was blood running from her nose and she looked- Carlos ran from the driver's seat and round to the passenger side.

"Alice!" he shouted as he opened the door and she fell out.

He caught her and carried her to a table that was in the area. Ean got out with Selene so that the others could get out and go to check on her. He only remained behind to set Selene to her feet and make sure she was able to walk, even if she was barefoot. Once she got her footing the two ran to Carlos and the others.

"Oh, god." Selene gasped as she was able to get words into her head. "Did I do that?"

"You didn't mean to." Carlos said turning away from tending to Alice to Selene. "At least you got rid of those things."

"Yeah, those things." LJ repeated glancing back at the road that they had come from.

"Lickers." Ean said as Angie walked up to Alice.

"What's wrong with her, Angie?" Carlos asked her.

"I don't know." the girl answered as she brushed the woman's hair away from her eyes.

Carlos used his ring and middle finger to check for a pulse on on Alice's neck and found a faint beat.

"Alice-"he whispered when all of a sudden the familiar sound of the undead echoed in the woods. He knew he could never forget the sound. Carlos turned to the mist that had covered the entire base of the ridge to see the silhouttes of corpses walking towards them. "We've got company!"

"Oh fuck no!! Not again." LJ shouted as Jill had deja-vu.

This is what happend to her the last time she was in the Arklay Range as an officer with the R.C.P.D. She lost two men to the cannibals the last time. She was not going to lose her friends this time and with Alice and her super powers gone at the moment, it all relied on her and Carlos. She had no idea if any of the others were a good shot.

"I need a weapon." Selene said and was tossed a gilded Uzi by LJ.

The dead were surrounding them and they were dozens of them. Probably a hundred or so. After a prolonged exposure to the T-Virus in the air, people can become undead. Those that hadn't escaped the full effect of the Virus which had permeated the air around the city. They limped, some sauntered, and most walked towards the group.

"Hold." Carlos ordered which was strange. But he was looking around and counting the undead. There were at least sixty if there are twelve of them in the front and five lines behind them.

"Carlos-"Ean started as they drew closer and were twenty feet away.

"Carlos!" Jill shouted when they were fifteen.

"Now!" Carlos said as the bullets showered on the undead. Selene took out lines of them from where she was while Carlos had a whole semi-circle to take out with two guns. Head shots got rid of them and soon after ten minutes of fire. Sixty of the undead were lying on the ground. The sun was blood red in the sky and illuminated the gory scene. Jill took Angie and ushered her to the car and away from the sight. LJ couldn't stomach it and followed them in the car.

Carlos was now at Alice's side and she was still unconscious.

"What did I do?" Selene asked as Ean drew her into a comforting embrace. She had emptied the Uzi and dropped it as she turned to her unconscious mentor. "I didn't know I would hurt her. I only aimed at them- the infectants."

"She is infected." Carlos said revealing it to them. "And so are you."

"What're you talking about?" Ean asked as Carlos walked up to Selene and took her left arm. He thumbed at the hexagon patterns.

"Souvenir from the experimentations." he explained and brought them over to show that Alice too bore the same red patterns. "And Angie. Infectants can sense each other. They can sense those infected by the Virus, those that are bitten- All that."

Selene didn't know why she could smell a sweet scent in the air. Maybe, she'd be told later.

"And how do you know?" Ean asked, "Carlos, are you-"

Carlos showed his arm. "No, I'm not. Angie explained it to me."

"So, I'm going to turn?" Selene asked and everyone knew what that meant. The dreaded term was now getting infamous.

"No,"Carlos answered simply, "You'll remain human. You'll just have extra...abilities. Like earlier today."

Ean remembered what happened in the Detroit facility when Alice just looked at him and in his head he could feel something trying to kill him. Maybe, Selene had done the same and it hit Alice.

"Hey!" Jill called to Selene who turned and caught a bag of clothes tossed to her. "We got those for you a while back."

For a moment, LJ and those in the car stepped out while Selene changed into a leather top and tight jeans. She had ditched the vest in the back of the car. After that she headed to the shotgun seat as Ean got in the driver's. LJ, Jill, and Angie were able to fit in the back while Carlos went back to get Alice. Just as they were halfway to the car, she jolted in his arms and woke up.

"Christ!" Carlos muttered as he looked at Alice and was relieved she was awake. "You alright?"

"What happened?" Alice asked confused and saw the pile of dead bodies around them as Carlos put her to her feet.

"Selene tried to kill the lickers. Only thing was- It affected you. As for these guys-"he said and kicked a body to the side. "We took care of them."

She nodded as they got into the car.

"So, where're we headed?" Ean asked as he started the car.

"Far from here." Carlos answered and Ean nodded as the car got back onto the road and started to speed towards the highway.

0o0o0o0o0oO0o0o0o0o0o

He emerged from the underground lab and with his men, explored the rest of the area to see the dead sixty corpses. He found a golden Uzi and bagged it to preserve the fingerprints on it. His hazel eyes scanned the area before he returned to his lab.

"The projects?" he asked.

"We can have visual from Project Alice and Project Avalon as soon as the satellite is up ahead." one man reported.

"But they're functional, now?" the doctor asked wondering how well the programming for the two went.

"Yes, Dr. Isaacs. They are one-hundred percent functional." the man answered.

"Good. Any images?" Dr. Sam Isaacs asked very interested to see if the projects had done this. But somehow, he doubted it.

"Yes, sir. Our database has them down as Agent Carlos Olivera and Amber graduate Ean Rydier."

"Rydier?" Isaacs asked very familiar with the name and the Amber graduate, Ean Rydier.

"Yes, sir. He's with them." the man said.

"Who's the agent?" Isaacs said seeing that all too familiar face that had been plastered all over the TV as the perpetrator of the Hoax tape. Why he was asking for the man's identity- he didn't know, but something told him that he wanted to make sure.

"Agent Olivera is the leader of the U.B.C.S. Part of the Incident scandal."

"Ah-" he started when two people broke in.

"Sir, we have visual of a battle with the undead earlier today." one woman said as she pulled up a video.

They watched as one man with a black shirt with a Colt .45 and a 50 caiber, another younger man with two different guns, and a girl with two sheets held together to hold her body- shot at the walking corpses with the mist hanging behind them.

"It's Olivera, Rydier, and Selene Avalon." the woman reported.

"Not Project Avalon?" Isaacs asked.

"No, we don't have a visual of the event from her- only Project Alice."

Isaacs watched as a full semi-circle was taken out by Olivera. "Is he a project?"

"No, sir. U.B.C.S- chosen by Cain. So-called third ranked to One and Ward- they're now deceased."

"Cain, always had an eye for skill." Isaacs said and didn't want to add, 'But I have an eye for potential.' Olivera was now the best Special Forces agent by default as the others had succumbed to the threat.

But if, Ward- a veteran in warfare- couldn't handle it and yet Olivera was alive it was obvious how good the agents chosen by Cain really were. Shame he was dead. And of One, the man was killed before the threat. There could be no comparison.

"Sir-" the man said breaking the doctor from the thoughts of resurrecting something.

"I want the agent in a project." Isaacs said as he left the room and the order with the men under Alexander Slater but stopped at the door to turn and give more orders, "I want Rydier, too, and that cop. I've got an idea. No- I want all of them. None of them dead. The whole group."

0o0o0o0o0O0o0o0o00o0o

"Alice, I'm fine- Ow!" Carlos said as Alice pulled another small shard free from Carlos's skin. The group had found a cabin fifty miles away from the Arklay range using local highways not to be noticed. They had even ditched the bulletproofed SUV to liberate another one. One which Ean had easily hard-wired.

The shards from the windshield of the black SUV had embedded themselves in Carlos's flesh where skin had been revealed. He had removed his vest to cover Selene. So, the shards easily penetrated his skin at his neck. He explained the reason he hadn't taken the shirt was that he knew he'd end up bleeding. He did everytime.

Alice took a wet hand-towel and wiped the blood and cleaned the wound before taking out a few more shards.

"Ow." he muttered and grit his teeth as a larger shard was taken out from somewhere near his clavicle. She cleaned the small wound with an alchohol pad from the first aid in the room.

"That was the last one." Alice said as she levitated the glass and placed them on the wet hand-towel. Her own wounds had naturally healed.

The group -other than Alice and Carlos- had gone to sleep leaving the two to tend to the wounds from the licker attack.

Alice continued to wipe away the blood when Carlos stopped her and took her hands.

"Alice, are we gonna keep quiet about earlier?" he asked.

"It was too fast. You said so-"she said- anything to get out of talking about it, "And I agreed."

"Yeah, but why? Why did that happen and none of us stopped that?" he said bringing up a good point.

Alice had no reason. "Maybe, it was just the moment." she proposed offering a reason for them to ignore earlier as a simple one of those impulse moments.

"Yeah." Carlos agreed even though he wanted it to be more than just impulse. "So, I guess-"

"It's nothing, for now." Alice said although her hand lingered too long on his chest. There wasn't any blood there and no wounds."I don't know if it means anything but we're friends...Just friends, right?"

Carlos nodded in agreement although he wanted to object. He leaned his face towards the light for a moment and there was no shadow cast on his face but still there were faded rings underneath his eyes.

"Carlos?" Alice asked as she started to put the bandages to cover the wounds.

"Yes." he replied and looked at her. "What?"

She traced the faded rings with a light touch after pinning the bandage. "Lack of sleep. Why?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked wanting to cover it up.

"These are rings, Carlos. You've been up for a while. They form after seven days of barely any sleep. Then they fade after two. These are- God, how many days were you up. Ten- Eleven-"

"Twenty." he answered and saw her alarmed look.

"What?" she asked and stopped from gaping at the answer. Twenty days?

"Look, you need to get some sleep-" he said and Alice stopped herself from laughing. Her needing to get sleep.

"No! You are-" she objected as she stood up and pushed him back down into his seat.

"Alice-" he said with little protest in his voice.

"No. Twenty days with barely any sleep. What were you thinking?" she asked him, her curiosity getting the better of her. She knew she didn't have the right to ask him why he didn't sleep. It was his reason and his alone.

Carlos hesitated. 'I was thinking of _you. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't stand to see you in my dreams.' _That was the truth but instead he lied,"Umbrella."

The answer satisfied Alice but she stuck to what she told him a moment back. "Carlos, go to sleep." she said. It was an order not a suggestion.

Carlos sighed. "Alright." he said as he walked over to the couch lay down. The white bandage covered some of his chest and as he lay down he eyed her as she walked to the windows of the room. She looked peaceful as she looked out into the moonlit surroundings, the moon came down to illuminate her face. She looked even more dazzling and Carlos smiled at her. It was never her looks that caught her. It was her personality, everything else but her looks- After a moment of thoughts, he fell into a well-deserved and very much needed sleep.

Alice sat near the window. She constantly threw her gaze back to him to check if he had fallen asleep but sometimes she'd find him watching her and felt herself blush. She hid the smile very well and continued to watch not daring to look back at those brown eyes of her rescuer. She thought of the time she had spent with him in Raccoon how easily they seemed to bond. And how willing they were able to bond in the SUV. Alice put her mind away from the incident and just looked out. When heard a steady and slow heartbeat and saw the steady rise and fall of his chest, she knew he was asleep.

She then looked out to the surrounding area once again illuminated by the silver shine. Suddenly, her vision flickered blue and then to normal. She shook her head to get rid of the feeling, but she could feel it as if it were crawling ever so slowly into her mind. As if someone else was with her- in her head. Something was wrong.

* * *

**_Review to read more and I hope you enjoyed it._**

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**_-Redd_**


	4. Chapter 4: Project Alice and Control

**_Here's the update. Lots of AC and the intro of Project Alice and Project Avalon as mentioned in the previous chapter. Lots of AC and sorry if it gets weird._**

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CHAPTER FOUR: PROJECT ALICE AND CONTROL

At first, she ignored the change of color in her vision dismissing it as something that Umbrella did to her. Like the Virus she needed to learn that she had to accept that there were going to be things that were never going to be the same but she regretted losing the color in her vision.

Alice glanced over at her sleeping….friend. Why? Why did she want to be more than just friends with him? Why do her eyes, even now, stray down to his partly covered chest? Why does her touch always linger too long with him? Why does her heart race and her cheeks flush with every admiring look he gives her? Why does she want to kiss him again?!

_He's an amazing kisser. I don't see why you want to be just friends. _came the voice of an intruder.

She was now in her mind and Alice whirled to face….a mirror. Or what she thought was a mirror. Instead, it was an exact clone of herself. A living breathing clone- with the eyes of the Umbrella corporation, the red and blue octagon. Alice drew the gun at her holster belt and aimed it at the woman- her exact duplicate, the perfect person that could betray them all. Alice swallowed hard, the first time she actually felt fear. Not for herself but for the others. If Umbrella was inside her head-

_Alice, what the hell do you think you're doing?_ the woman asked as she moved forward.

Alice took a step back. She was mentally going insane. Her actions weren't being played with her physical being but in her head. The whole scene was in her head. She cocked the trigger and didn't say anything as she continued to back away.

"What the hell are you?" she finally hissed at the woman.

_I'm you._ _In a way- My name's Project Alice._

"You're a product of the experiments." Alice realized.

_Yeah. I'm basically a part of you._

"No!! I can get rid of you-"Alice started and knew she just wanted to believe that.

_Wrong, Alice! Now, I've got control on what can and can't do!_ Project Alice replied and Alice lost control of her body.

She wanted to yell in warning to anyone that could hear her. But she couldn't even move her own lips. Her voice suddenly became internal and became the Project's mental voice and in turn the Project gained control over voice and words. Once again, she tried to control herself and attempted to walk forward but found she had no control over her body whatsoever.

The sky became a faint pink and blue with the rising of the sun with its reddish hue. Its sunlight streamed in. Project Alice sighed as she realized that she was in control and Alice was just a mental whisper in her mind. She smiled malevolently and turned her eyes to the agent lying asleep on the sofa. She got up and made her way over to him.

"No!!" Alice yelled in protest, "No!! Leave him alone!!"

0o0o0o00o0oO00o0o0o0oo

Selene awoke from the nightmare and the recurring memories she had of The Hive. The memories kept bothering her. She jolted upright and turned to see that Ean lay next to her. The two had agreed to split a bed since there were only two rooms and three beds. In one room, Jill and Angie had split and LJ took one bed all in the other room. In the room Ean and Selene shared with Alice and Carlos, there was a living room and a bedroom all separate. Alice and Carlos took the living room allowing the younger two to take the bed. After weeks of being stuck in a facility, Selene was relaxed to finally do something that was normal…sleep in a bed. But even that didn't stop the memories of what had drastically led up to another life changing event in her life.

The girl got up and walked towards the window to see the reddish light from the sun stream onto her face. She closed her eyes remembering all of the events that happened before The Hive. Her meeting with Ean. Her training with her mentor, Alice, and various other agents such as Carlos, Rain Ocampo and even One.

Selene smiled when she remembered one day when the leader of the most elite group told her his full name and explained because he thought she should know he trusted her with the information. She was one of the few people that actually knew the real name of One- James Shade. She remembered telling him James Shade sounded better than One as a name and One was better as the leader of a commando strike team. One laughed and agreed.

Then when she was with Carlos, Selene began to show her most dangerous side as the guy was good with emotions. He knew what could provoke the most deadly thing out of someone and he always provoked her anger. He was the one that taught her how to control it while Alice taught her how to channel it. Without those two, Selene knew she would've sent reeling on a path of self-destruction. But the two had saved her from that.

_Now, they're saving each other._ Selene smiled to herself. She always wondered what would happen if the two of them ever met. She'd always talk with Alice about things especially her training and her only friend in the Amber facility, Ean.

"_This Rydier guy, his mentor is?"_

"_Oh, a Special Forces guy. He's really cool. He trains me, too. You two helped me the most."_

"_Really, what did he do?"_

"_Well, I've always got that big anger issue. You know that right?"_

"_Yes. Yes, I do."_

"_Very funny. Well, he taught me how to control it and not to show emotion especially when it's not needed. He's also taught me how to handle various weapons."_

"_And how did I help?"_

"_Taught me how to actually use anger."_

Selene's trivial flashback ended and her thoughts of The Hive returned. She pushed it away only to have a new voice echoing in her head.

_They helped you a lot, didn't they?_

Selene found herself in her mind and turned to face herself except her eyes were an octagon of red and azure blue.

"Yeah, they did." Selene said and relaxed, "And I tried to hurt them earlier. It was all my fault."

_Well, not really. Can't blame yourself, Selene._ the person replied.

"Who are you?" Selene asked looking up at her duplicate.

_I'm Project Avalon and I'm here to help you._ Project Avalon said offering Selene her hand. _Just let me take control and I'll help you even more. I know you're afraid that with everything that's happened you'll get even worse- But with my help you'll get even better. Your anger at Umbrella and everything will disappear. Promise-_

Selene hesitated and realized that the Project was offering to take control of her body. Control. Selene always wanted control even over her own fate. But if it was under her control it really wouldn't be fate. Just what she wanted. Suddenly and belatedly she realized what the red and blue octagon meant.

"Umbrella!!!" she cried stepping back and away from the person. "No! Get out of my head!! GET OUT!!"

_Sorry, sweetie. I'm here for good._ Project Avalon replied, _And I'm gonna show you what I can do._

The Project turned and started to take control of Selene's body. The girl screamed as she realized that she couldn't control herself.

_No!!!_ she screamed and heard nothing come from her lips. She had become the mental voice and could do nothing but watch.

0o0o0o0o0o0oO0o0o0o0o0o0o

It took Carlos a while to wake up and the first thing he felt was a gentle touch caressing and tracing his arm. His eyes were still closed as the touch traveled to his shoulder then to his chest before a hand rested on his abdomen. Carlos opened his eyes and saw Alice next to him sitting on what room there was left on the sofa he was lying on.

"Alice-"he was about to ask her if she was alright when she placed two fingers on his lips to silence him and smiled. Before Carlos could react, Alice leaned close to him, removed her fingers and replaced them with her lips. It was a lustful kiss that woke the wounded agent fully. Without hesitation, he pulled Alice on top of him and saw a smile light her face before their lips met again.

He had momentarily forgotten about their talk last night. But the memory slowly crawled back to him and in the middle of one of their lip-locks he broke it to look into her eyes.

"Alice, what happened to us just being friends?" he asked her. A hope building up inside of him.

"Do you really want us to be just that?" she asked back.

Carlos hesitated with his answer. Her voice was all wrong.

"Exactly," Alice said, her lips brushing against his. But the former agent once again broke the kiss as he saw something flash in her eyes. The red and blue octagon-

"Umbrella." Carlos muttered as Alice continued to kiss him.

"Mmm. What was that?" she asked as she felt the grip he had on her shoulders tighten. She was pushed slightly off him and was staring down into chocolate brown eyes. Eyes that were searching for something.

When her eyes suddenly flashed the Umbrella logo, he knew something was wrong. "Alice, what the-"he started to ask when Jill's voice broke through the air.

"ALICE!!! SELENE!!! CARLOS!!!" Jill screamed.

In his arms, Alice convulsed for a moment. Her hands went to her temples as if she was having another telepathic attack.

"Are you okay?" he asked before Alice stared back at him confused.

"Angie." she gasped, "Something's wrong."

It was Carlos that got both of them to their feet and Alice that ran forward to the room where Jill was holding a limp Angie. Frantic tears were running down the cop's face.

"Alice, Carlos- I don't know what happened." she said her voice mixed with frantic worry. She was just-"she started when Ean and Selene ran through the door and nearly crashed into Alice and Carlos. "She was convulsing one minute and then-"

Alice ran to the corner where the lunchbox Angela always held close lay. She opened it to take one vial of the green life-saving substance. She ran to the little girl and cleared a spot on her arm. She nearly fumbled as she administered the antivirus. After it was all drained she removed it from the girl's arm and waited. It was all they could do. Jill wiped away the frantic tears and Selene, Ean, and Carlos were tensely frozen to their spots at the door. They waited for what seemed to be hours. The whole entire place was so quiet until…Angie's gasp pierced the silent air and startled everyone in the room. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as Angela sat up and looked at everyone's faces. Everyone was near pale and the color only started to return to their faces.

"What? Did something happen?" she asked innocently not knowing the near heart attack she had caused.

Alice said nothing as she hugged the girl and held her close for what she wanted to be a perpetual moment.

"What's wrong?" Angie asked her as Alice let go only to be replaced by Jill's arms around her.

"Nothing," Carlos lied as everyone else couldn't form words, "You just gave us a little scare."

Angie looked at him and knew little wouldn't have caused him and the others to be in this type of mood.

"Wait, there's one of us missing." Ean said looking at the group.

"You can't get him up. Trust me." Carlos replied as they turned back to the girl that Jill was still holding in her arms.

"We'll try." Selene said as she and Ean cleared the room.

Alice looked back to the lunchbox and looked to the supply. Her eyes widened but nobody had seen it. She closed it and took it with her as she walked out with Carlos.

"Want to explain?" he asked her.

"Explain-"she started.

"What the hell happened before that scare?"

"It wasn't me."

"Yeah, I know that." he said and shocked her. "I saw the symbol in your eyes." he explained, "Did-"

"Isaacs screwed me up even more. First- I'm a project and now- I'm a fucking program."

"You're still human. You're just-"

"Let's face it, Carlos. We both know that I am and can never go back to before- to being human."

"I wasn't talking about that. I'm saying that the Umbrella side of you is getting out of control. You can control whatever they did to you."

_I tried, Carlos. It's hard._ Alice thought but never said it aloud.

"We both know you're strong." he said with a smile as he stepped forward and brushed away the hair that fell close to her eyes, but he was wanting to add and say something more.

He leaned close towards her.

"Carlos-" she whispered, her voice was the only thing that put up a protest.

"Alice, do you really want to be just friends?" he asked her.

_No._ "Yes." she lied but their bodies moved close together.

"You sure?" he asked having seen it. Her eyes looking downwards after she had said it. A lie.

"Yes, I'm sure." her voice wavered close to the end and she prayed he hadn't heard it.

Carlos cupped her face and saw the ice blue pools turn to him. Their gazes met before their lips did. It was not a lustful kiss like before or in the car which Carlos was starting to admit was impulsive on his part. In that one kiss, he tried to show her everything as he couldn't tell her. Meanwhile, Alice felt everything melt into that one kiss. The barriers she had erected around her crumbles and the wall surrounding her heart was blasted away with the fireworks that exploded and went off in her head, in her body, and all around her. Soon, it all ended leaving both of them breathless.

"Really?" he asked with a grin.

"No." she gasped.

"Alice, I'm sorry." he said, "I can't be just friends with you."

She looked up into his chocolate eyes. She couldn't be just friends with him either.

"I-"he started.

"Ssh." she whispered and kissed him back. For a moment, their lips broke apart only to meet again.

"Jesus Christ- will you two get a room!" came the voice of LJ and Ean.

But right now, in the world, it was just Alice and Carlos. The voices of their friends weren't heard at all. With that, LJ, Ean, and Selene walked stealthily not to bother two and snuck into Angie and Jill's room. The two of them were just starting to pack up.

"What's wrong?" Jill asked as the two of them got in.

"It's like a scene of The Notebook out there." Ean said and everyone stared at him.

"Ean, you're scaring me." Selene said.

"How would you know?" Jill asked at the same time.

"Gay-"LJ stated and really that was what Ean heard.

"Oh, yeah?" he asked LJ, "Would a gay guy do this?"

He took Selene by the hand pulled her towards him and kissed her. When their lips broke apart, their gazes met before they kissed again and this time Ean dipped his friend so that he was basically keeping her from falling. Finally, when it all ended, Ean met azure eyes that were mixed with emotions he couldn't read all at once.

He put her back to her feet breathing a little heavily and turned to LJ, "I don't think gay guys do that."

"Neither do best friends." Angie added. Everyone had viewed the relationship between Ean and Selene as the deepest friends could have. But after all it have been the one friendship that escalates to something more.

"You're right." Selene agreed her eyes on Ean, "They don't."

His green eyes met her blue and both had the same look: Confusion.

Meanwhile, outside, Alice and Carlos had ended the kiss.

"What do we do now?" Alice asked him. She had no plan for this. Her plan was to avoid falling for anyone. Keep everyone away from her emotions. But it was easy when nobody was around. Now, that she was fighting a war with them- she couldn't help but reveal her feelings and fall for Carlos.

"I really don't know." Carlos said with a smile.

Alice laughed as she felt his arms wrapped around her and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Well, at least you'll never be alone." she heard him say as she closed her eyes. "I'll always be with you. I promise."

_Aww. Isn't that sweet?_ came the voice in Alice's mind.

"No!" Alice cried out and then realized she couldn't use her mouth any more.

_I don't know. How you were able to break free earlier. But believe me. That's not happening again._

"No!! Just leave them alone! I'll go to Umbrella. Leave them out of this!! All of them!"

_You're very funny. You've now got a boyfriend and you want me to leave him alone? No, and besides, your student- Selene, not as average as you thought._

"No!!!"

_Yeah, we got to her, too. Avalon's controlling her right now._

"Carlos, we've got a problem." the Project said using Alice's mouth. "It's with Angie. She's all out of the antivirus."

Carlos looked at her.

"We're going to need to get more." she said.

0o0o0o0o0oO0o0o0o0o0oo

"Any places in particular that we can reach. Without drawing any media?" Ean asked looking at a map that LJ had been able to get of the area.

"Media's gonna be drawn in either way." Jill came in, "We're breaking in. There's no way we can avoid that."

"Great. Fine. What about a small facility?' LJ came in for once being interested. Strangely, when it came to saving a life LJ became serious and while they were safe he was always pulling the funny quotes that kept everyone else straight.

"There's two but I'm not sure about one. So, we'll need to split." Alice said pointing at one facility only ten miles away from the motel and one twenty.

"The farthest seems to be safe because it's closest to the highway and that makes for a quick getaway." Selene came in.

Carlos and Ean analyzed the map.

"Looks, like the nearest is the most dangerous to get out of." Carlos said seeing it was around a closed area and a circuit of roads that was going to be hard to navigate unless you've taken them already.

"So, it looks like a few of us will be heading there." Alice said, "I'll go."

"Me, too." Selene added.

"Everyone else will go to the other place." Alice continued.

"No, I'm going with you. One more person would be good and Ean can take care of the other three." Carlos added.

Alice and Carlos exchanged a glance and smiled at each other. One that only went unnoticed by Ean, LJ, Jill and Angie. Selene had caught the glance and only smirked at it. Her eyes had met Ean's for a moment before dropping down to the map.

"So, now that we know where we're going," she started, "I suggest we start moving out."

Everyone agreed as they packed what little they had brought.

"Wait, we only have one ride." LJ pointed out.

"Not really." Ean said pointing to a group of three bikes. "I think I can hot wire those."

"And when did you learn to do that?" Carlos asked him.

"You learn a lot of things on the streets." Ean answered as he walked over to the bikes and started to work on them.

Jill, Angie and LJ got into the SUV and waited for Ean. Alice, Carlos, and Selene took the weapons they needed from the back arsenal and just as they were finished heard the start of each of the vehicles. Carlos and Selene picked out a thin bulletproof vest which would be good to deflect some bullets. Alice never wore a bulletproof vest but chose instead to be heavily armed.

"Got 'em!" Ean yelled as he started one after the other.

"Thanks, Ean." Alice said her voice cold for a minute but Ean wasn't listening to her but to the rev of the engine to make sure it was in good shape.

"Alright, we'll rendezvous at your facility. Once we're done." he told them.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Carlos said, "It's hard to get our of the facility if we get caught."

"Alright, once you get there radio us if it's not clear. If you don't we're gonna meet ya there." Ean said.

The three exchanged glances. The plan was alright. Ean gave a momentary glance to Selene before heading to the SUV with the others. Soon, everyone went their own ways.

0o0o0o0o0O0o0o0o0o0o

For Alice, Carlos, and Selene the drive was not more than half-an-hour and they arrived to see what looked like an abandoned facility.

"It look empty." Selene commented.

"It may be empty of agents but maybe there're some undead." Carlos said as he drew his gun.

Alice and Selene had done the same and entered single file into the facility. The light was enough to illuminate their way. The room ahead of them seemed to be the main room and the metal doors were opened halfway.

"It looks like this place was emptied in a hurry." Carlos said.

_Carlos! Get out of here! Get out! _Alice yelled but the Project was ahead of him and she couldn't say anything. Selene was the same way. She had a programming in her as well and she was doing the same thing except she was yelling at the Project.

"What the hell are you doing?! What the hell did he ever do to you?" Selene asked.

_He went against the corporation._

"That's it? He went against fucking Umbrella and you're gonna kill him."

_Kill him? No, Umbrella and Isaacs have a different plan for him. We were originally supposed to meet here and get orders but Carlos volunteered to come along._

"And the others?"

_Sent them to an abandoned facility. There's only one person in there and he's a former outcast. I doubt he'll be of any help to your friends._

Selene futilely tried to warn her former trainer but her mouth couldn't move. Suddenly, as they entered the room, she could hear them. Their footfall wasn't that hard and she knew that Carlos wouldn't be able to hear it. But somehow he did. He was the first to whirl around and fire at the agent that were flooding in from the halls that were empty and looked like dead ends.

"Ambush." she cried trying to make it believable as she drew her gun and fired at the men aiming at the chest and not the head.

Alice had done the same and only shot for the chest. Carlos was the only one that was making head shots and hit them with dead accuracy.

"What're you doing?" he asked Selene, "They've got vests, it's not going to kill them."

"That's the idea." came a voice from behind them.

Carlos turned to see Isaacs standing behind them with agents and assault rifle. Alice attacked the rows mentally aiding them. But somehow, Isaacs smiled even though as a line of his men collapsed dead to the floor.

Alice was struggling hard to kill the men and give Carlos a chance to escape and get out of here. But the Project pushed her away from control.

_You can't do anything, Alice!_ the project yelled as the agents swarmed towards them and got to close. It was now hand-to-hand combat and they passed Alice and Selene.

Carlos noticed that but just smiled. It only meant more for him to deal with. First, he shot point-blanc at those that got to close and then using whatever martial arts training he took out the agents one by one. Keeping his eyes both on his enemies and Selene and Alice who stood frozen to their place. All of a sudden, the agents starting flooding from all the entrances and Carlos was starting to tire.

"Alice, Selene! A little help here!" he called to them. "Alice-"

Before he could say anything more, blows were starting to hit him as fifteen agents were surrounding him.

"No!!" Alice and Selene both yelled in their own minds. They could only watch as the agents slowly beat the agent.

"Enough." Isaacs ordered even though one more agent had kicked him once more.

Carlos groaned as two picked him up and hauled him to his feet. He panted or breath having the air being knocked out of his lungs with everyone blow and punch.

"Alice? Selene?" he asked and when they turned to him he saw it. "Oh, fuck."

The red and blue octagon- He had lost her to them.

"They're not your friends, Agent Olivera." Isaacs said coldly.

"No shit." Carlos snapped before getting a punch to the gut. One that didn't hurt since the vest kind of muffled the strength of the blow.

"Sorry, Carlos." Alice said her voice oddly strange. It was her normal voice with a taunt mixed into her tone, "Doctor Isaacs." she said walking up to the doctor.

"Project Alice, it's good to have you back." Isaacs said and gently brushed her strawberry blonde hair before placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Get your hands off her!" Carlos ordered threateningly, his voice very acerbic. He struggled against the agents that restrained him but it wasn't any good.

Isaacs turned to him and was about to give an order but Alice stopped him.

"Allow me," she said her voice very seductive and before Isaacs could even give or express permission, she had approached the agent.

"Alice?" Carlos asked as she stood now stood only scant inches away from him, "Alice, please-" he said in a pleading voice, hoping that she would snap out of her Project Alice trance.

She smiled and drew closer. Her hands slipped to the vest he was wearing and opened it to let it hang off his shoulders revealing the navy blue shirt that he had put on early morning. Without that thin protective vest, he was vulnerable to anything now. But with a vest on or off, Carlos was always vulnerable to Alice. The Project looked down as if to look through the shirt as if it were made of diaphanous fabric. But the navy blue shirt rippled in the light breeze that blew through the room. Alice pressed her legs against his and leaned on him. Her hand pressed against his chest and traced whatever she could feel through the shirt.

Carlos grit his teeth at her touch and Alice looked up at him making sure that their gazes met. Her eyes flashed blue before turning red, showing him that Alice was trapped. Carlos struggled against the agents sending a smile to the project's face. She leaned close to him even more. Her chest pressed against his, their faces scant inches away from each other's. It was as if there weren't agents restraining Carlos and that there weren't any other watching this scene.

Project Avalon stood to the side watching this. Isaacs did, too. Well, so were the agents but they were completely devoid of caring for what was really happening. Isaacs was watching with a hint of jealousy tainting the so-called professional relationship scientist-project relationship he had with Alice. Seeing her body-on-body with some other man- Isaacs smiled. This only proved how human he was.

Selene could read emotions well but she focused on the way that Project Alice was acting wondering it was real or the best damn acting she's ever seen.

Project Alice leaned close to Carlos's ear so not even the nearby agents could hear her. "Remind you of something?" she asked tracing his abs as she leaned against his side. Carlos didn't answer, afraid he'd let out the groan he had in his thought as her hand seductively started to move downward. Her touch tantalizing as she stopped right before his belt.

"Do you want to know something?" she asked as she pulled back from her amorous touch.

"Stop it!" Alice told the Project.

"Go to hell." Carlos answered through grit teeth and mentally Alice cheered and smiled at the Project.

"Yes or no?" Alice smirked.

"What?" Carlos asked and the project knew that he was curious.

_He wants to know, Alice._ the Project said with a laugh.

"I'll take that as a yes." she teased her voice becoming very airy so much that she was practically blowing into his ear. "It's about your Alice- what if I told you-"

She cut herself off. Alice was mentally objecting to all of this.

"Don't- if Isaacs finds out-" Alice cautioned but the Project didn't listen.

"Told me what?" Carlos asked her.

"Told you that she has feelings for you-"

"I figured that out already."

"Really? That this feeling is only for you? Do you know what that is?"

Carlos was quiet. He had gotten good at separating the truth from the lies and right now his own emotions were clouding it. He had feelings for her , too and something that went beyond the borderline of friendship. But maybe it was just his hope agreeing with the woman whispering in his ear.

"Carlos, I'm sorry." Alice whispered. But it wasn't Project Alice, the woman that had woken him up this morning, it was the real Alice. For a moment she broke through and knew there was nothing else she could say. Her whispered apology sounded ethereal and quiet quite different from the Project's taunting and tantalizing voice.

"It's not your fault." he whispered wanting to hold this Alice close.

Alice drew back to face him, her body still against his. She leaned close, her eyes flashing red and blue. Her soft breath hit his lips and their proximity close. Their lips were together in a heartbeat.

Selene and Isaacs watched. Selene, or really, Project Avalon had a smile on her face finding it amusing that her fellow Project would go this far and thinking it very cruel to Carlos if it indeed was just plain brilliant acting. Isaacs was frowning. Jealousy showed he was human- any emotion showed that one was human. It didn't matter if it was Project Alice or Alice herself. There was no doubt emotions- none of them even loathing- in that kiss. The project was and still remained human.

The kiss lasted as long as Carlos had air in his lungs. When he felt his heart pound and lungs burn he knew he needed to break it. Alice could sense this and soon it ended with both of them panting for breath and staring into each other's eyes. They were silent.

"Well done. Best acting I've ever seen." Selene said.

Unknowing to those who weren't infected Selene and Alice had communicated telepathically.

_What the hell do you think you're doing?_ Selene asked.

_Shut up and get me out of this mess!_ Alice telepathed back. And Selene did.

A malevolent smile filled Alice's features once again as she withdrew from her position. Carlos stared as reality broke through with the sound of Selene's voice. The whole scene had played out in front of Isaacs who knew that at once everyone was messed up!

"Look, Isaacs. I know this was only for rendezvous but he volunteered. The others were sent to the Cathay facility not far from here." Selene informed the doctor, "They needed the antivirus and there are at least a few there."

"For who?" Isaacs asked.

"Angela Ashford." Alice replied even though mentally the real Alice was trying to keep the Project from revealing it, but it was in vain.

"The brat lives?" Isaacs asked getting a fierce, loathsome glare from Carlos, his eyes were already filled with fire and were blazing as if nothing had happened moments before.

"Yes. Valentine is with her." Selene said.

"Who else?" Isaacs asked.

"Selene." Carlos cautioned but the girl paid no attention to him.

"A civilian named LJ. No one's used his name so I can't tell you who he really is."Project Avalon continued and Alice picked up from there.

"Also, an Amber graduate. A friend of Selene's- Ean Rydier." Alice said.

"Rydier?" Isaacs asked.

"What do you know about him because he's infected?" Alice said.

"He's infected?" Carlos asked, but no one listened to him.

"Rydier's foster parents were former doctors for Umbrella and died in Raccoon City. They weren't much of a priority- even if they aided in T-virus production- and besides, it was always their son I was after."

"Why Rydier?" Project Avalon asked.

"Because, Angela Ashford is the original recipient of the adapted virus. Not the original Virus Ashford created that naturally mutates. He created a Virus that lives and adapts to the human blood that they attach to.

"Of course, we didn't want to endanger anyone of priority and Ean was adopted by the Rydier's so-"

"Ean was adopted?" Carlos muttered but no one heard him.

"Ean Rydier was the obvious choice. He was injured in a sports accident and his parents took him to Raccoon City where he received the...medicine. Of course, it's a live Virus-

" So it bases successful infection on personality?" Avalon asked exchanging glances with Project Alice. "We were infected with this strain weren't we?"

"Yes, but the original virus is out of control and only certain people were able to adapt to it. Too bad most of them died in Raccoon City. Now, here you are. The evolution of the future."

"And how many people died for your evolution, huh? Millions of innocent lives were lost in Raccoon. If you haven't looked around the world is falling to hell!" Carlos yelled at Isaacs who took it calmly and that bothered the agent how someone could take all of that and remain placid.

"We're well aware of that. And it is why we are gathering projects to defeat the undead. The world will fall and we will be there to resurrect it." Isaacs replied.

Carlos laughed, "You need an army to defeat the undead."

"No, Olivera. I need every able infectant. They can kill thousands and none of them can get attacked. Only problem are the lickers and the cerberus dogs."

"Angie-" Carlos started.

"I'm surprised the girl lived. But even she will become useful." he said and added, "But humans- human lives are cheap."

"You're human." snapped the former agent.

"Wrong. I'm a scientist. What good is a human life if it doesn't serve my cause?"

"Dr. Isaacs." Alice cut in, "We should leave before Ean and the others return."

"Yes." Isaacs said as he drew a gun that he had holstered. Alice and Selene had turned to walk and none of them knew. But when Alice heard the silencer shot and Carlos gasp, she turned to see blood flowing freely from a bullet wound in his chest. The shot had missed his abdomen and hit him right below the ribcage.

"Drop him. Let's go." Isaacs ordered as the agents dropped Carlos who fell and at impact a small cry of pain broke from his lips.

His eyes met Alice's with a pleading look telling her to come back.

"NO!!!" Alice screamed and broke through. She gasped as she returned feeling the return to her body.

"Project Avalon! Project Alice, let's go." Isaacs ordered but instead. Alice drew her gun and aimed it at him.

"You had not right! NO RIGHT to do that!" she yelled the Project was still in her and still dominating part of her.

"Alice- he's human." he said with a tone that Alice could hear. The Project in her smiled while she felt herself cringe.

"You're jealous." she said and with peripheral vision saw Selene not Project Avalon cringe. No one but Carlos and Alice saw that.

"Does it matter?" he asked.

"What matters is that- You shot him." Alice said cocking the trigger.

The agents behind Isaacs tensed.

"You won't shoot me." Isaacs said sure.

"Really?" she asked raising the gun to his head.

"Because-" came the voice from Selene as she drew her gun and aimed it at Carlos, "You shoot. I shoot."

"Selene, get back to us." Carlos groaned as he tried to move but the bullet in him prevented him from moving a lot.

_Don't worry. It's me._ came the voice of Selene.

"On the count of three I'll shoot." the girl said cocking the trigger.

"One."

Isaacs smiled.

"Two."

Carlos saw the look between Alice and Selene. Alice drew her second gun to aim at Selene and the girl drew hers two and cocked the trigger.

"Three."

Gunshots rang.


	5. Chapter 5: Love at Death

**_Sorry, for the long update but this took a long time to write and Ihad midterms in school!! Some of you are not going to like this chap. Fair warning. _**

* * *

CHAPTER FIVE:

"This gotta be it!!" LJ said as he looked at the map on the laptop and the area. But he did this sarcastically for there was no way he could tell it was the real place. "Good job, Agent Rydier!"

"Are you sure about this?" Jill asked as they all stepped out. Angela clung to the empty lunchbox that was supposed to have held the antivirus canisters. The four of them stares at the farm like structure that was in front of them. Ean stared.

"Well, these are the coordinates." he said approaching the door. He guessed they weren't that hard to push and forcing them open, Ean revealed there was an elevator inside. LJ whistled with a sarcastic and surprised tone.

"Holy shit!" LJ added as Ean turned to him with a stare reminding LJ of one of the glares Carlos would throw at him. "Ya know, if I didn't know better- I'd say you and Carlos-"

"He taught me everything I know." Ean cut in as he stepped into the elevator and removed one of the silver plating that covered the wires of the elevator.

"Yeah, did he teach you how to give a killer stare?" LJ joked as he and the others stepped in, " 'Cause you know, if you would've been a cop, ya would've gotten a lot of confessions."

"Carlos was my instructor. He taught me how to survive against Umbrella." Ean said and turned back to the wires, "He didn't teach me how to hotwire one of these things."

"But you do know how to right?" Jill asked when all of a sudden the doors closed and the elevator started to descend. "I'll take that as a yes."

Ean smiled as they arrived at the first floor right beneath the barn. It was a silver hall leading to different directions, but what was strange was that there was nobody there. No agents to stop or fire at them.

"Strange." he muttered and turned to Jill and Angie who saw the strange thing too.

"Why are we quiet?" LJ asked coming out of the elevator having thought they'd be fired at as soon as they arrived.

"Shut up!" Jill answered him as she drew her gun but Ean was the one that signaled them to stay. Out of all of them, he knew what kind of traps that Umbrella would throw at them. Booby trapped hallways, laser rooms- He remembered the first time he and Carlos had been locked in a virtual room. The memory flashed before him.

"_Ean, relax. This is virtual training." Carlos said as he donned the virtual gear. But Ean couldn't relax some gut feeling told him that it wasn't going to be a pleasant ordeal that they'd be heading to._

"_Ya never told me virtual training involved being eaten alive by zombies!" Ean shot back as Carlos laughed._

"_You weren't the one being eaten." he replied. They were referring to the last training virtual reality that had been meant as training grounds for Ean. The scenario: A city run over by zombies._

"_Right, seeing innocents being torn limb from limb by flesh eating cannibals isn't scarring enough?" Ean asked as Carlos smiled and shook his head._

"_It's virtual reality, Ean. Just remember it's not real." Carlos said as the room lit up and the silver room disappeared before them. It dissolved into the new environment. Before they knew it, they were in a mansion._

"_Huh, this is simple enough. But it seems real enough." Ean said but Carlos pointed over to wall that looked like cracks with streams of data behind it._

"_Virtual reality isn't that real. There're give aways. Remember that." Carlos replied as he drew his gun and the two of them entered a room with fluorescent lights on either side of the hallway. "Spencer Manor."_

"_What?" Ean asked._

"_Ean, get out of the room!!" Carlos yelled and Ean did, only the door shut behind him._

"_No, Carlos!!" Ean cried as he slammed his hand against the door. Through the small glass, he had a view of the whole room. He saw his mentor back up and jump over the white hot laser. Next, he grabbed onto a pole at the low ceiling to avoid the laser that cut too high. But the laser cut a clip on his belt and it clattered to the ground._

"_Shit!" came Carlos's voice that echoed as he removed the bullet proof vest when he landed on the ground and removed all weapons. A grid of lasers came towards him and Ean yelled in warning, but Carlos jumped up and disappeared into the ceiling._

_The laser approached the doors before winking out and the doors opened. Ean got in and saw the data streams on the opposite all except these weren't hidden in cracks. These were visible meaning it was an exit out of the virtual test. That meant that a test had either been completed or failed._

"_Carlos?" Ean asked when all of a sudden Carlos dropped from the ceiling and landed near his diced gear._

"_Miss me?" Carlos smiled. He had taken out the vest and the guns and was just left in the black shirt and the black camouflage pants._

"_How'd you-" Ean started and looked up to see a large vent but it was large only for a man to fit in- someone without any gear._

"_The vent was open. With the gear, I wouldn't be able to make it." Carlos said as they headed towards the door._

"_What was the point of this?" Ean asked knowing that each test had a point. The one with zombies was meant to test his aim on a moving object and he had passed that._

"_I have to undergo certain virtual experiences through areas. Knew Spencer Manor had a hallway with laser traps. I thought it would be a good time to show you what Special Forces agents get to do."_

"_Dodging lasers? Avoiding death? Sounds like fun." Ean said sarcastically as he opened the door._

Ean smiled at that. Carlos had taken him on more training places and he had learned where the entrance of a virtual reality was and where it ended. What one can do to fool the system and how one can turn it to an advantage. But he spotted something. Cracks on the walls with data streams behind them.

"Angie! Jill!! LJ!! Run for the elevator!!" Ean yelled, "Get in the elevator!!"

Jill pulled Angie and LJ in, and as the last of them got in, the transparent doors closed on them.

"Ean!" they all yelled but Ean wasn't worried. He was trained for this. He drew another gun and turned to the hallway.

"Show yourself!" he ordered. He knew that there is always one person that starts the virtual reality and unless he leaves the reality keeps going on.

But nobody came out. Instead, Ean ventured further into the virtual reality. He stumbled across a laboratory room and saw vials of the antivirus set against one wall and a number of viruses stacked against the opposing wall. But the scent on one side of the room drove him nuts and burned at his throat. It smelt like he had swallowed a good deal of perfume as the air was intoxicated with the Virus on one side while the other side kept it at bay. The antivirus- Ean ignored the fact that Carlos had pointed out infectants were able to detect viruses. He had forgotten. But there was a man standing next to a rack of the Viruses.

"Freeze or I'll shoot!" Ean yelled to the man who wore a black cloak that covered everything.

"Umbrella agent?" the man asked as he voice was altered by the reality.

"Amber facility graduate." Ean answered, "So, technically, yeah."

"Leave and take your friends with you." the man ordered as he stepped into the middle of the room yards away from Ean but not far from the range of the bullets.

"Not a chance. We're here for the antivirus." Ean answered with a tone that said he didn't want to fight.

The man threw off the cloak to reveal himself. He was at least ten years older than Carlos or Alice. So, he was either in his late thirties to his early forties. But he wore the same thing Ean knew he would've worn if he had continued to serve Umbrella. The same outfit that Carlos, Chad Kaplan, Rain Ocampo, and James Shade wore. His opponent was an Umbrella agent.

"What do you need with the antivirus?" Ean asked, "You're one person, what do you need with it?"

"A boy like you would never understand." the man replied as Ean's hand tightened on the gun.

"Who are you?" Ean asked as he stepped to the side as the man did as the man did as well.

"I should be asking you. You're the one that's intruding." the man answered and Ean took it upon himself to at least be polite.

"Ean Rydier." he said but never got an answer for as soon as he gave his name the man lunged at him with a broadsword and seemed to have traversed the distance between them in one movement.

Ean dodged the blow and holstered the gun before ducking another slash.

"_You can bend the reality to your will. You just need to remember that it's a virtual reality." _Ean remembered Carlos telling him.

The youth pictured a broadsword and surely enough it appeared in his hands. He fought back using the techniques Alice and Carlos trained him in.

"C'mon, boy. Defend yourself better than that." the man said as his strikes were getting harder. But Ean wasn't an expert in this field there was no way that he could defend himself better than what he was doing. All of a sudden the environment changed. The wooded area surrounded him completely.

"Oh, shit." Ean muttered as he dodge rolled to avoid the lash. He drew a gun at his belt and shot at the man. It was a dead aim shot and would've killed him if the virtual wall had not summoned itself and blocked it.

"_Even your weapons are virtual reality. Doesn't matter if you walked in with it or not. It's not real."_ Ean thought to himself as he summoned himself another sword this time a double-edged broadsword.

0o0o0o0o0o0oO0o0o0o0oo

Jill beat her gun at the transparent doors as she saw the room changed.

"Oh, this is some demon bullshit alright!" LJ shouted as he helped beat at the door.

"It's a virtual reality!" Angie shouted over the pounds. "Ean's in a virtual room!! This is the exit and it's the control room."

"Angie, how do you know?" Jill asked as she left LJ to kick at the doors.

"Because there were many entrances. We took the simplest." she said and turned to the wall. Her eyes scanned the elevator wall but she pressed her hand at what seemed to be the smoothest surface on the elevator. "My dad helped build these."

"Angela Ashford." came an automated voice as the door slid open and revealed a tech room.

"This wasn't an elevator-" Angela said as she walked into the room followed by Jill and LJ.

They made their way over to a place filled with screens, computers, and keyboards.

"Allow me." Jill said as she took a seat and began to type rapidly putting in hacking codes that she knew very well. One of the screens lit up and showed that Ean Rydier was fighting another man. She watched the way Ean's opponent fought and recognized it. Three different people fought in him. She saw moves that Alice would've done and then moves that definitely belonged to Carlos and then moves she thought were just pretty well done. But it was reflected by Ean who was able to copy and pull each move off. They were pretty equally matched. Soon, after the swordfight, the two were moving on hand-to-hand combat before reverting back and picking up the swords.

The three watched as Ean slammed his blade against his opponent's and then kicked the hilt out of his hand so that he was able to catch it. It left the man defenseless, but it was then that a door appeared in between them.

"Go on, boy." the man said as Ean ditched the swords and opened the door. Jill and the others watched as they stepped through and the virtual reality faded. Instead, the window that had been black and looking like a wall filled with light as it revealed a room large as an airplane hangar. In the center stood Ean and the Umbrella agent.

"C'mon, Ean's gonna need our help." LJ said as he opened a door that led to the room.

Meanwhile, Jill hadn't been the only one that realized that the man fought with moves from Alice and Carlos. But Ean recognized each of the moves. The ones that Ean hadn't seen Carlos or Alice use were at least taught to him by either one of them.

"Amazing job, boy." the man said with an impressed smile. "Amber facility has a good student. A shame it was used on one for its loyalty."

"Hey! I am no loyal son to Umbrella!!" Ean shouted when he saw his friends and walked towards them.

"Really?" the man asked with raised eyebrows. "Tell me. Who taught you at Amber? Who was your mentor?"

Ean knew better than to divulge the identity of an Umbrella agent involved in scandal. And besides, he didn't trust the man.

"You know a lot about Umbrella. You know the people that taught there. You guess." Ean said as he turned back to the man and checked the magazines of his gun to see that it was still full and he hadn't used it at all.

"Boy, I have no time for Twenty Questions." the man said, his mood showing he was temperamental.

"Well, call me "boy" and I'm not telling you shit." Ean replied evading all information as Jill and the others approached him.

The man sighed. "A man?"

"Yes."

"Dark hair- Black hair?"

"Yes?"

"Tall? A man my height?"

Ean stepped forward as that he was at least a yard away enough to judge the man's height. The man was no taller than Ean and Carlos was at least a couple of inches taller.

"Taller, by a few inches."

The man nodded and smiled.

"A man with brown eyes?"

"Yes."

"A Special Forces agent? Leader of the U.B.C.S?" the man asked with a smile. Once he stated leader of the U.B.C.S, Jill and Ean knew that the man knew who Ean's instructor was. "I knew the technique. You had more of his than another person. A woman. Strawberry blonde with blue eyes. Security Division Agent, however- Head of Security at The Hive. You have more of Carlos Olivera's skill than Alice Prospero's technique."

"You know Carlos _and_ Alice?" Ean asked confused. How could this man know them both? He turned to Jill who had the same question in her eyes.

"Yes, and now one of them is a fugitive and the other is dead." the man answered and then whirled to face Jill, "You're the girl on the news. You're involved in the Umbrella scandal."

"I told the truth and now I'm a fugitive. You're an Umbrella agent so-" she started when the man laughed at her.

"You think I'm involved with them?!" he asked laughing, "If I was, you'd all be dead. It doesn't matter if Rydier here can fight like Carlos and Alice. It won't be enough to save him or all of you. I'm another renegade agent and I've taken over one of their facilities."

"Wait, dude!" LJ cut in, "Ya think Alice is dead?"

"Yes, that was the last I was informed. Alice Prospero died in the Arklay crash and Carlos and Ms. Valentine survived." the man said and turned to the others as if waiting for confirmation that what he had heard was in fact true.

But the others shook their head.

"Alice was reanimated and was brought back due to the T-Virus. I'm sure you know that she's infected." Jill said to him but the man shook his head and a grin crossed his features.

"She's alive!" he cried with a smile as he gripped Jill by the shoulders, "Have they met? Have Alice and Carlos met?"

"Yes, they met in Raccoon." Jill answered more in shock to pull out her gun.

"What? Why?" Angela asked and the man looked down to her. "Why do you need to know about if they met?"

"I'm sorry, little girl. I didn't see you." he said, "What's your name?"

"Angela Ashford." the girl answered, "What's yours, sir?"

"Alexander O'Connel." the man said, "Alex. O'Connel. Xander. Whichever name you prefer to call me."

"Xander's good." LJ said and everyone turned to stare at him. "What did I say?"

"Xander, we need the antivirus. Please, it's for Angie." Ean told Xander who nodded and turned.

"Follow me." he said as he turned and exited the room.

0o0o0o0o00oO0o0o0o0o0o

The gunshots echoed throughout the room, but none of them hit the people that they were assumed to hit. Alice, Selene, and Carlos were never hit even though the guns were pointed at each of them. But the guards had been smart, for the bullets hadn't hit the intended target either, Isaacs. They had pulled him back and they had received the bullets instead. Those were the last bullets on either gun and both of them reached for a magazine. But they heard Isaacs's voice.

"Close it!! Leave them!!" he yelled as Selene ditched what she was doing and ran for the doctor and the door. But it slammed shut in her face. She saw the malevolent smile on his face as his eyesight went beyond Selene and to someone else before the doors sealed shut. Selene's fists slammed on the door and dented it as her anger raged through her channeling her strength.

"Damn it!!" she screamed, frustrated and enraged, "Alice, the sonofabtich got away!!"

She expected Alice to be right beside her ready to blast the doors open but she wasn't. Selene turned. "Alice?"

There was no answer and Selene saw why. Alice was kneeling at Carlos's side her hand over his bloody one that was clutching at the bullet wound.

"Oh, shit." she muttered as she remembered and ran like the wind towards the two of them.

"Carlos, we need to take it out." Alice whispered. She removed his hand and tore open the shirt from the bullet hole.

"This is gonna sting, isn't it?" Carlos asked with a smile as Alice stretched her hand over the wound. Carlos looked away from her and the wound and towards Selene.

"Oh, hell yeah." Selene answered his question. Carlos laughed, but it quickly turned into a groan of pain as Alice took the bullet out. She held it in her hand before throwing it off to the side.

"Thank you, Selene." he muttered as Selene grinned at him. But Alice stared at the bleeding wound and expected it to heal- prayed for it, too. But she just realized that he wasn't infected. He didn't have the ability to regenerate. Selene removed the thing jacket she had been wearing and pressed it against the wound to stop the bleeding. For once, Alice wished that the curse she had could be put onto someone else. Carlos would've healed by now, but he was human and not an infectant.

"Alice, you know better." he said as he took her bloody hand. "Nothing's gonna help."

Selene pressed harder applying more pressure to the wound and Carlos winced. But he knew that Selene was only trying to help him.

"I'm-"he started but Alice cut in.

"No!" she cried. She leaned closer to him, "No- I'm not going to let that happen."

"I've got an idea." Selene said as she got up as Alice's hand replaced the pressure on the wound. She got to her feet and bolted into an open hallway.

Alice took Carlos's hand and her grip tightened as she held on.

"I never said thank you for saving my life in Raccoon." Carlos said to get a conversation started as his grip on her hand became firmer.

He didn't want to leave her. Especially not now and especially not due to a shot from a jealous doctor- a shot that Isaacs dealt him. Alice's eyes never met his but he stared at her. As soon as he saw her shoulders quiver he knew what was happening to her.

Alice promised to close her heart and not to get attached to anyone. It seemed easy when she made the silent promise alone, but hard to keep as her she met the others. Angie- the girl that needed to be protected and was like a daughter her. Jill- she was her closest friend and her only confidant. LJ- he helped keep her sanity and was part of the reason that the Umbrella side of her was held at bay. Selene- the girl was like a daughter when Alice taught her as she grew up in the Amber facility, but now they were like twin sisters, each of them having complicated lives. Ean- he was a person she could ask for help if needed most, he was a trustworthy friend to everyone. But what did that leave Carlos with? What role did he play in her life? There was a hole in her heart for a reason. Because of one betrayal she became cold to any form of life, help, or comfort. But he came- She's shown emotion little by little and now, her grief was overwhelming. How could she keep it all in after a lifetime of holding it back?

First, she felt tears sting her eyes as she looked away. She couldn't bring herself to even look him in the eyes because she knew she'd have to confront the evident truth that Carlos- As her tears escaped, she felt her body shake. She had forgotten how it felt like to cry and the reasons for crying. The feeling was alien.

"Alice." Carlos whispered, at hid the wince as his throat pained as he spoke to her.

His free hand reached up and tilted her face towards him. He saw her tear streaked face and saw red starting to taint the white background behind her ice blue eyes. He knew that she rarely showed any emotion and this time she was crying because of him. He didn't want her crying over his death. He caressed her cheek wiping away the tears and a sob broke from her lips at the touch.

"Ssh. Alice, don't." he said quietly.

"I'm losing you." she whispered to him her eyes looking away and at the bloody wound at which one of her hands lay.

"You've lost a lot of people, right?" he said as he swallowed hard, his throat dry. "It's just me. What's the difference?"

It was true. Alice lost a lot of people and she never wept over their death. She just swore vengeance on those that caused their deaths. But there was one difference. None of them were Carlos Olivera. She never felt the emotion that she had for him- ever in her life. She couldn't pin down any words to describe what she was feeling.

"None of them were you." she answered him. "There's a difference for you." Her tears had stopped but her voice had caught in her throat. With the hand without blood, Alice caressed his face. Her touch was light and Carlos leaned towards her touch.

"Alice, I'm not special. Just another soldier." he said referring to himself as being one of Umbrella's soldiers as he closed his eyes for a moment.

"You were never just another soldier." she whispered to him and then inaudibly she said, "It's all my fault."

0o0o0o0o0oO0o0o0o0o

Jill looked at the items in the pack and checked off an imaginary list in her head. Antivirus- check. Extra magazines- check. Some form of food- check. Water-check. Extra unloaded handgun- check. Extra top- check. Her pack wasn't that big. So she shrugged as she tossed it into the back.

"You got everything?" she asked Angie as she turned to face the girl who was counting the antivirus shots in her lunchbox.

"Yup." the girl confirmed with a nod as she got into the car. LJ already sat in the driver's seat having been the first one who wanted out of the Umbrella facility.

"Thank you." Ean said as he watched them from the entrance to the barn. "Angie, really needed it."

He turned to Xander who watched the others get ready, as well.

"Don't mention it., boy." Xander smiled as Ean shook his head at the title 'boy'. "Just as long as you're not Umbrella agents, I'm fine with helping you."

"I was planning to be one. Carlos, Alice, One, Rain and others were good teachers." Ean said as Xander just kept quiet.

"Yeah, that test back there was one I created when Alice and Carlos were training to become agents." Xander told him and Ean's eyes widened.

"They went through training?" he asked and Xander laughed.

"Well of course they did! Umbrella agents aren't agents overnight. The training's hard as an adult. So, I created Project Christmas for them- It was a virtual reality where they had to go against me in different environments and use everything they were taught. It was to weed out those read to serve."

"Wait, I fought you in a-"

"You passed Project Christmas, kid." Xander cut in. "Passed with flying colors. Could've matched Alice and Carlos- but they're a bit ahead of you in the game.

"They're pros at the technique 'else they wouldn't have taught 'em to you." the man said and looked off at something, "You show great potential, kid."

"Thanks." Ean said aloud. It was several moments of silence before he spoke again, "So, you're working with-"

"No. No!" Xander interrupted thinking he was already reading Ean's mind. "If I was working for them, you'd be caught by now. I'm a renegade. Thought we went over this."

"I was going to say working with Alice and Carlos during this rebellion." Ean finished and the man stopped.

"Oh, well. The last time I heard- Alice was dead and I lost track of Carlos. Believe me, I wanted them on my side."

"They're renegades, too, now. All of us are." Ean said, "You know, another aid in this battle would be nice."

"And what battle is that?"

"The war against Umbrella. This world's already falling. Let's see if we can save it."

Xander smiled. "Can't turn an offer like that one down. Alright, kid, what can I do to help?"

"You can come with us. Alice, Carlos, and a friend of mine named Selene are at this facility." he said and showed it to him as they walked over to the computer that was in the car.

"They haven't said anything, so we're assuming it's clear. They would've buzzed if it were otherwise." Jill added, "We need to go and pick them up."

"Alright, then. I know the fastest way to get there." Xander said as Ean got into the driver's seat. "Move it, kid. Maybe next time."

"Hey- fine. But what about the lab?" he asked.

"The lab'll be fine. There's a code on the doors. The only way someone would be able to get is to get the code. They can try, but the place will only blow up." Xander answered as he hit the peddle and the car shot forward before Ean could shut the door.

"Hey, I'm not in my seat yet." Ean cried as he finally got the door shut.

"Gotta be faster than that!" Xander said with a smile as they raced along the back roads.

0o0o0o0o0o00oO0o0o0o0o0o00o

"I got it!!" Selene cried as she ran into the room.

She had looked everywhere for what she had in her hands. She knew that first aid kits carried syringes and such and what was needed for what she planned to do. If the plan went right, so many things could be saved. She knelt down at Carlos's side opposite from Alice and took out a syringe.

"What're you doing?" Alice asked in a voice that made Selene look up at her mentor. She saw reddish blue eyes and tear streaks but no tears. Alice had been definitely crying. But she ignored that and decided to ask later as she prepped the needle.

"You're blood adapted to the Virus. Therefore, it's versatile to the Virus." she explained as she offered her hand to Alice gesturing that she would get the shot. "Viruses can be transmitted many ways. One…the natural way, which I am not going to sit through. And two: through the blood. By sharing needles and injecting blood- Look, long story short. Carlos I'm gonna be infecting you with the T-Virus."

"Well, why not your blood?" Alice asked.

"You've been infected longer and the mutation is on a larger scale for you. It'll be faster working with him." Selene said as she looked between the two. She needed their permission to do this.

"Do it." Alice said as she stretched out her free hand. Selene gave a nod and took the syringe. Alice didn't feel the pain in her arm as the blood was taken. There was no hesitation with her answer. If infecting him meant that he was going to live, then so be it. She wasn't ready to lose him.

Selene then injected the blood, using the same needle, into Carlos's arm. Now, there was no risk with transmitting any other diseases for the T-Virus was an immune system on its own. And it killed off any pathogens that threatened the body, except itself of course.

If one was infected, regeneration would kick in to heal the wound. But several minutes passed and it didn't work.

"Maybe, if-" Selene started frantically.

"It's not going to work." Carlos muttered. He had no hope that this was going to work because he already decided that Fate had it in for him. He removed Alice's hand from the pressure she was applying to the bullet wound, he held her hand and held on tightly- in a grip that she could not escape from. He was going to lose her and that was the end of his story.

"At least you're here." he told her and turned to Selene who was started to cry, "You, too, Selene."

"Carlos." Selene whispered as she looked at him. Tears streaked her face and started to fall. There was no way she could save him- her plan had failed and now…he had to go.

Alice held on to his hand firmly and Carlos looked onto her face.

"Alice-"he started but was interrupted by her.

"Please- don't go." she entreated, but that was not going to do any good. They all knew that none of them had control over whether or not Carlos was going to live or die. She heard it first and returned to applying pressure to the wound. Death was starting to take him from her for his breathing was slowing down and he was struggling for the next breath. Soon, he closed his eyes.

"No! Carlos, no!" Alice cried as her free hand tilted his face towards her.

He didn't answer.

"Carlos- Carlos, look at me."

He did that and opened his eyes to look at her one last time. He took in everything, from the blue eyes with a red background, to the strawberry blonde hair that was mussed, to her dark pink lips, perfect skin that was pale at the moment. He watched as she tucked her hair behind her ear for it was falling close to her face and it brushed against his as she leaned close to him.

But- he wanted to confess and tell her everything. Thing was…time was against him. He needed to tell her something to explain to her how important she was to him. It was funny how the only time one could put a name on something was when he was going to die and when he no longer needed words.

"Carlos?" Alice asked reading the look he had in his flickering eyes.

"Still here." he answered and forced a smile. The last he would ever give her. The smile however faded into a wince as his throat stung on a massive level. It had already given up on him and he needed to tell her something. Last moments….last time… But the cold started to spread through his body and took his thoughts off things for a moment. _Is this what it feels like to die?_ he asked himself.

Alice saw that he was fading fast and she needed to tell him. Her mind had put it together, her voice just needed to say it aloud.

"I love you." she said a little bit rushed, but as she outlined his face he saw that she meant it in the most sincere way. Her eyes reflected it, her touch showed it, her attitude revealed it.

"I know." he replied with a smile and a smile lit Alice's face for a moment before she heard it as if it had been a timer. His heart beat started to slow.

"Carlos!" she gasped.

"Love you…too." Carlos whispered before-

"No! No!!" Alice yelled as she felt his whole entire being go numb. A sob broke from her throat, "Please, no!!"

She beat her fist once against his chest and then again….again…again…until her pounds became softer with every hit. Selene sobbed as she held her face in her hands.

"No." Alice repeated before she let her anguish, sadness, pain, and anger all out in one single ear piercing scream. But it did nothing. It didn't relieve the fire in her heart and didn't certainly fill the hole that was widened.

Pain racked her body and it felt as if she had been shot and died as well. She thought she'd never love again- ever since the whole Spence betrayal she'd never thought of love except for when she thought that she'd never love again. But this love was powerful- It just didn't matter in the end, no matter how much they loved each other Death was more powerful than anything. Alice realized that now. It could all happen in a black or flash and before you know it, someone could be fatally injured and soon die in your arms.

Then…nothing. Just as Alice collapsed on Carlos's chest, sobbing with emotions she'd kept from herself from feeling, her mind went black and into a dark abyss. She had taken her time and look where it had gotten her.

Selene pressed her hands against her heart as if trying to prevent the invisible blade from stabbing her even further. It hurt her as if the pain Alice was feeling had been turned to sword and was stabbing her over and over making sure that she felt it. But the girl didn't mind it- Alice's pain was hers and as Carlos's death sunk even deeper the young girl sobbed as rage and vengeance built inside her.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0oO0o0o0o0o0o0o

Ean felt it like a gunshot as he stepped out of the car first. He stumbled instead and fell to the ground.

"Ean!" Jill cried out over him as he cried out with pain. "Ean, are you-"

"What the fuck?!" Ean asked himself as he staggered to his feet and pushed himself to run into the facility. He knew that something had gone terribly wrong. Half of him was scared to find out and the other side of him needed to get to the bottom of it. Because he could feel it- As if both of them were hurt. Alice and Selene- he could feel their pain. But he gave no second thought to it as he through open the weak metal doors.

Angie was tearing as the pain for her was immense for she was young and not knowing what it was scared the other three that were in the car.

"Angie, what's wrong?" Jill asked frantically hoping the girl would give her an answer.

"It's Alice! It's Ali-"the girl started but Xander didn't finish listening for he ran after Ean. If Alice was in trouble-

Ean had sped in first and stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the scene in front of him. He felt the hair on his neck stand up as he feared to ask what had happened but he found no voice for his fast beating heart drowned out what he wanted to say. Alice was crying and Selene had a first aid kit by her side and was sobbing uncontrollably. Ean ran to Selene's side and took her into his arms.

LJ and the others came in a moment later while Xander was frozen where he was. Alice took no notice of them until a moment after Ean had wrapped his arms around Selene. She looked up at him and saw him them all standing there.

"No!" Angie muttered as Jill took her into her arms and comforted the girl.

LJ, who had always worn a hat, took it off in sign of respect for his fallen comrade- for the man had saved his life when they were in Raccoon.

"What happened?" Ean asked asking the question that was ringing through everyone's mind.

"Isaacs-"Selene gasped.

It was all she needed to say to enrage everyone save for Angie and LJ.

"Son of a bitch!" Ean cursed in an audible voice.

Alice had stopped crying and was fully aware that everyone's eyes were watching her. But her eyes turned to the slowly approaching figure. Ean lifted Selene and helped her off the ground from where she was and moved her out of the way as Xander knelt a the empty side. He brushed at Carlos's hair the way a father would at a dead son's- Alice looked at him and Xander saw the emotion reflected in her eyes.

"Xander?" Alice gasped as she choked on tears. She stared at the man with shock- she never expected to see him ever again. It was evident in her voice.

"Hello, Alice." he said sweetly and looked at Carlos his face turning so solemn.

Ean stared at Alice, "Wait, you know him, Alice?"

It was a question that went unanswered. Instead Xander looked at Alice, "I was wondering when you two would ever meet?"

"What?!" Jill asked and shouted to Alice, "Do you know him?!"

"Alexander O'Connel." Alice confirmed, "Yeah, I know him. He was my instructor."

"I was his, too." Xander said his eyes going from Alice to Carlos.

Her eyes widened. "Him? He's the man you were telling me about?" Alice asked.

Xander smiled. "Is that a good thing?"

"He's a much better person than you described." Alice whispered as the two talked of something the others didn't know of.

Xander's smile brightened. Carlos and Alice were his only students. They were the only ones that showed so much promise and deserved more than a leadership position in their fields. They seemed like a perfect match for each other. Security and Special Forces working together- Xander thought of that, but failed to make a meeting place for either of them to meet. If one wasn't doing something the other was busy. He had never gotten the two to meet. And then Carlos's position as the U.B.C.S. called him away and Alice's assignment at the Hive was the one that separated all three of them. They had lost most contact after that and Xander suspected that Umbrella was behind it all.

"But-"Selene started, her tears dry and a fierce undertone lined her speaking voice.

"Xander's the greatest agent trained in both fields. He's the only one that's crossed the lines between the two armed forces. Once in a while he took on future agents and trained them to be the best in their field."

"You were one of the few chosen." Jill finished for her and Alice gave a nod.

"And then I passed it on. As did Carlos." Alice said and stared at Ean and Selene. They were the future people.

"I was on my way to becoming a loyal agent. But then Xander told me what they were doing in the labs and I turned against them. That's what happened in the Hive and everything." Alice explained, "But-"

"Everything went wrong and instead there was a breakout. I got the news that Alice was killed in the Hive and then later the news that Carlos was fugitive." Xander said as he removed the cloth to reveal the blood gunshot wound. "Isaacs is a lousy shot but he got a fatal one this time. He only gets one when he's angry. He must've been real pissed at Carlos-"

"All he did was kiss Alice." Selene said as Jill gagged.

"Now, that's one fucked up thought Valentine if you're thinking what I think you're thinking." LJ came in as he hit on what Selene was implying.

"Are you saying that-" Ean asked Selene as his eyes questioned her.

Selene gave a nod. Jill retched.

"Isaacs has some sort of infatuation with me." Alice told Xander as the others stared.

"That's some motherfucking messed up shit!" LJ shouted as Angela looked around confused but Jill assured her that she had nothing to worry about.

"It's why he's dead. It's all my fault." Alice whispered but Xander shook his head.

"Believe me, Alice. It's not your fault." Xander said and paused for a moment, "Come, we need to go."

"We can't just leave him here." Alice pointed out and Xander immediately answered her.

"Of course not, there's a morgue in the lab where the others came. We'll house the body there." Xander said as he and Ean lifted the body and went ahead. Alice took Carlos's bike and Selene took Alice's. LJ, Jill, Xander, and LJ took the car while Ean took Selene's bike and all of them headed back to the facility.

* * *

**_Now, that was sad. Sorry, people. Oh and I hope I didn't make a lot of mistakes in this. Plz, review. Or I won't update._**

**_-Redd_**


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